Book info

• Title What to Do When Someone Dies
• Author Nicci French
• Year 2008
• Genre Thriller

Ellie Faulkner's world has been destroyed. Her husband Greg died in a car crash - and he wasn't alone. In the passenger seat was the body of Milena Livingstone - a woman Ellie's never heard of. But Ellie refuses to leap to the obvious conclusion, despite the whispers and suspicions of those around her. Maybe it's the grief, but Ellie has to find out who this woman was - and prove Greg wasn't having an affair. And soon she is chillingly certain their deaths were no accident. Are Ellie's accusations of murder her way of avoiding the truth about her marriage? Or does an even more sinister discovery await her?

Thoughts

Such a sad tale this one. It starts and ends with death, and traverses the exhausting trials of grief throughout. There’s a mystery to be solved - why did Ellie’s husband die in a car crash with a strange woman in the car? Was it an affair? An accident? Or, more likely, given the genre of the book, murder?

Despite being slow-paced, wading through the stages of grief, this is a fascinating story. I thought it especially interesting when the police got involved and had to work their way through the tangled mess themselves. The ending felt a little hurried and bizarre, I felt very distant from it but it certainly wasn’t a disappointing twist.

Overall, though, the book left me feeling sad. For Ellie and for everyone involved in the story. For those left behind.

Rating: 3 / 5