The Other Side of the Door-Nicci French

The Other Side of the Door
Nicci French
Minotaur, May 11 2010, $25.99
ISBN 9780312375409

In London band singer Bonnie is stunned to find her secret boyfriend, another band member Hayden lying dead inside of his apartment. Panicking, Bonnie hides the corpse, cleans up the crime scene and erases any traces of her ever being there. She conceals she was ever intimate with Hayden because the police will know she had opportunity and her probable motive being Hayden's other women.

Afterward, as she reflects back as to what she did, Bonnie realizes the police will still look her way. However, she also begins to think lucidly about the crime scene and concludes someone else cleansed their traces from the pad.

This is an excellent crime caper as Bonnie looks back from the moment she found the body in a way that makes the audience assume she actually might have killed the victim. The story line grips the reader who will not want to put it down in order to find out did she kille him or not. Although amnesia is not part of the plot, The Other Side of the Door will remind readers of Memento with its look back. The strong support cast enhances an intriguing thriller starring a beleaguered abused heroine as the Nicci French writing duet provides a terrific winner.

Harriet Klausner