Thorn in the Flesh – a new novel by Anne Brooke
Tuesday 4 March 2008
Anne Brooke of Student Care Services at the University of Surrey has had her fourth novel published. The psychological crime novel, "Thorn in the Flesh", is now available from Goldenford Publishers.
Thorn in the Flesh tells the story of Kate Harris, a lecturer in her late thirties, who is attacked in her Surrey home and left for dead. Continuing threats hinder her recovery, and these life changing events force her to journey into her past to search for the child she gave away. Can she overcome the demons of her own personal history before time runs out?
Thorn in the Flesh was longlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Awards 2006. The book is set in Guildford and Godalming.
"I have just finished reading Anne Brooke's Thorn in the Flesh. In the end, having carried it around with me for the last few days I found I had to know what happened, and read the last 100 pages nearly at a sitting. Kate, like most of us, is her own worst enemy. She is a very private person and does not confide even in her best and oldest friend, Nicky. If she had done things might have been different. Kate is raped. She is afraid she knows who it was, even though he wore a mask. But she only tells the police part of her ordeal and doesn't tell them about the threatening letters she has been receiving before and after the attack. Kate does not want to face up to her past. She would rather bury it deep and not acknowledge it even to herself. But the attack forces her to confront both her past and her own character flaws. When Nicky may be in danger, Kate finds she has the strength to overcome. The book raises many issues, including how a woman deals with that most feared of crimes - rape - especially when she thinks she knows who her attacker is. How to continue a very close relationship with a childhood friend when she marries and has a family without coming between her and her husband. How to deal with the past and your own memories when the past comes back to haunt you. It is not a comfortable story to read, but it is gripping and all women will identify with Kate, when she tries to overcome the mistakes of her youth. Kate's solution to her problems develops from her own particular character and the violent ending is wholly right for the story. Read this book if you want the hairs to stand up on the back of your neck. You will question your own feelings about rape, friendship and your attitude to your own past." - Jill Weekes.