No Escape by Hilary Norman

No Escape Reviews

• 
  Fiona

  I really liked it right until the end but was slightly disappointed with the solution.
• 
  Jennifer (JC-S)

  ‘All he was offering, he told them, was a way out.’
  
  It took me a while to get into this novel: it opens with a number of different strands. First, a woman’s body is found. She’s been battered to death, and her husband (who has a history of violence) is arrested. In a second family, a little girl who has been illegally adopted, is afraid of her adoptive father. And then her adoptive mother is found dead. In the third family, Lizzie Piper, a well-known and successful writer of cookery books is married to Christopher, a successful surgeon. Lizzie and Christopher have three children and plenty of money. A perfect marriage, you might think.
  
  Robin Allbeury is a wealthy lawyer. He offers to help women escape from their abusive marriages, and uses the services of a private investigator to help him help them. What is his motivation?
  These various ingredients are brought together in a way which had me guessing (wrongly, in most cases) about some aspects. It’s hard to say more without introducing what would be major spoilers. While I didn’t care for aspects of the ending, that is no reflection on the writing, simply a personal preference.
  
  This is the first novel I’ve read by Hilary Norman, and I’ll definitely be seeking out others. I like novels that challenge me to work hard to figure out the mystery. And in this case, I didn’t work it out until everything became clear.
  
  Jennifer Cameron-Smith
  
  
  
• 
  Elizabeth

  First time I have read this author and I did enjoy the novel apart from a few things glaring at me. For example I found the author entirely naive when it came to the thread throughout the novel of kinky sex. The wife's reaction to it that it was abuse of an unforgivable nature, with never one moment of trying to understand where her husband was coming from. And then the husband's obvious ineptitude at execution and the nuances of it.
  And there was such a major focus on Lizzie throughout the novel while others were dying. I found that strange.
  It was also touted as scary and horrific but it was neither. It was however competent and enjoyable on every other level. And nothing I have mentioned was so majorly jarring to me that I did not enjoy the novel.
• 
  C!NDY L00

  OK, first the negatives. This story was a bit too chatty for me, with dialogue and details concerning the story's protagonist, Lizzie Piper and her family that really had nothing to do with the plot. Because of this, It had me yawning in places and I was tempted to skip pages even though I didn't. These unnecessary fillers inclined to detract from the story, instead of adding to it, in my opinion. Additionally, the ending was a bit melodramatic for my taste, even if it was surprising. Nevertheless, characterization, plot and the writing style was all well executed. I like mysteries when I can't figure them out on my own without some difficulty, and I never did with this one. Overall it was fairly good, but not great.
• 
  Anja

  Whenever I read a book by an author I have never come across before, I tend to look for anything and everything that is WRONG with the book, but I have to admit - this was not half bad.
  
  Well thought out, well played out and interesting characters made for a good read. Their torments were made believable by not overcomplicating the plot.
• 
  Antje

  The English original is called No Escape. I read the German translation. Although it is slow in the beginning, I found this a first class thriller.
• 
  Kari

  This was also an amazing read. Storylines that involve women escaping abusive marriages/relationships are very close to my heart and reading this prompted me to look for more books by the author.