First published 1991
Bunty Felse exchanges playful banter with her husband George about dangerous company before he departs for urgent police work in London. Alone in their house, she confronts an approaching milestone that fills her with dread. Tomorrow she turns forty-one, and with their son Dominic now grown, she feels purposeless and aging. The weight of empty years ahead drives her from the house to their local pub, seeking relief from her dark thoughts. There she meets a distressed stranger whose troubles quickly engulf her own life. The casual encounter transforms her evening into something far more perilous than the domestic doldrums she fled. Bunty discovers that her joking words to George about avoiding gunmen and criminals were tragically prophetic. As danger closes around her, she fights to preserve the very existence that moments before seemed monotonous and endless.
Genres: domestic-fiction, suspense, mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: London, Pub
Period: 40th Birthday
192 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Futura