Kirsten Tranter

I got a copy from a very good friend in Sydney and brought it with me back to Sweden to read as a part of the AWW2012 challenge. I didn´t really know what to expect from it since the author was totally unknown to me. I also was a bit reluctant since I rather read australian novels set in Australia.

Well, I picked it up one evening after being bored with a crime novel, and started to read - and became immediately hooked. There was something about her writing and the way she presented the characters and the story to come to the reader. You know something is going to happen, but you don´t know what. I first got the impression that something terrible was about to take place, but as the novel moved on I realized it was more a story of friendship, love and loss than a story of suspense.

I don´t know if you ever experienced the sudden knowledge that a friend very close and dear to you in fact is not as close a friend to you as you thought. This is something of what Elliot is going through. The death of Dylan alters the foundation for their friendship, nothing will ever be the same.

I liked this novel very much- I really wanted to know their secrets.

In a way the novel is a "kammerspiele". Everything circles round the characters and their relationship, the setting doesn´t really matter. The authors choice of Las Vegas just seems to underline how much is false and fake in their friendship.
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This is the story of five close friends. They have been friends since college, and every year they make an annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas. But this year is different. One of their number, the charismatic Dylan, has died in an accident. His is the loss they are dealing with, as they return for their annual trip. But when they arrive they each receive a letter which spells out a mistake they have made in their past which proves to be a source of blackmail for someone, a mysterious brother of Dylan''s that they never knew existed and they then realise that they never did really know Dylan. Over the years the four remaining friends have drifted apart, but now they have to work together to deal with a common threat. The book paints a great picture of Las Vegas - not described as a place I would like to visit and the story line is ineresting… (más)

This is a slow moving book at first concentrating on developing the three main characters, Julia, Ingrid and Ralph, but it still did keep me interested and when it came to the mystery element in the second part I was hooked and wanted to read to the end. Ingrid goes to America to marry an older man Gil Grey and then on September 11th 2001 she has an appointment down town and is never seen again. Julia goes to America to find out about Ingrid's life there and it is then that the mystery deepens. Did Ingrid in fact die that day? I enjoyed the book. It kept me interested till the end.… (más)