the GIRL BEFORE

This is the best psychogenic thriller I’ve read in a long time. Not only is this story avant-garde (I love that word), it also has a taste of ergodic literature in it, although mild if you compare it to Mark Z. Danielewski’s, House of Leaves (see my review of 2/1/2013). Author JP Delaney has left some pages unnumbered, a lot of chapters without quotation marks, such as the THEN: EMMA chapters, and various pages are left nearly blank except for questions that applicants must answer before they can be approved for the rental on One Folgate Street. The action is in London, England. The tension is breathtaking. Do you think I liked this novel? Did James Cagney play tough guys in the movies? For some reason, the word ‘girl’ is very popular in recent bestsellers; such as, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train (see my review of 8/16/2015), Armando Lucas Correa’s The German Girl (see my review of 11/13/2016) and Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin Ten (see my review of 9/7/2016). Okay, a woman is not a girl, but it’s close. Anyway, all of the above novels are bestsellers, and JP Delaney’s novel is no exception. This was one of those novels that you hated to end. You know the feeling...Wait, it’s over? That’s it? Anyways, let me tell you a little about the novel’s characters.

The main characters are kept to a super friendly (Cormac McCarthy?) five if you count the exclusive self-operating house on One Folgate Street in the London area of England as a character (I did). You might ask, who are these people? Let’s start with: Edward Monkford, One Folgate Street’s architect, owner and renter of the capricious house in question. He considers himself an alpha male, as do all of the woman he meets in the novel. He is a extreme controller and perfectionist. Did he kill his wife and child, or was it an accident? He got permission to bury them under the house. Why does he only rent the house to women who look like his deceased wife? Did he kill ‘the girl before’, Emma? Emma Matthews, a troubled girl who had a bad break-in at her previous address. We learn early in the novel that she is dead. That’s why her chapters are THEN: EMMA. She was getting therapy because of the anguish she suffered in the attack. Was she murdered in the mysterious house or was it an accidental death. Why did it always seem like she was lying? Did Edward Monkford or her previous boyfriend, Simon, kill her? Did Simon’s best friend, Saul, kill her? How about the recently caught burglar, Deon Nelson, who attacked her and burglarized Emma’s old apartment? He says he didn’t do it.

Simon, Emma’s boyfriend before Edward Monkford. He is big time in love with Emma, but he reacts badly when Emma tells him that she gave oral sex to the burglar. After an argument she throws him out of their new rental on One Folgate Street. Is he angry enough to kill Emma? If he killed Emma, why does he leave a bouquet of lilies on the doorstep of the house every day after she died? Why does he tell everyone who will listen to him that Edward Monkford killed her? Jane Cavendish, the current renter of One Folgate Street. Her chapters are headed NOW: JANE. She had a stillborn birth...a daughter named Isabel. She needed a fresh start, which included a new address and new job. She moves into One Folgate Street and becomes the novel’s main protagonist. Jane finds out about Emma’s death. Emma had an affair with Edward Monkford, the same man she is having an affair with. She starts to suspect that Edward killed Emma. The House (the fifth main character) is accessed by a smartphone, computer or bracelet worn by the renter and is run by a program called Housekeeper. Sometimes Housekeeper will disable part of the house’s systems until you answer some inane question on the computer. Is the house capable of murder? Does the house punish you, if you don’t follow the over 200 rules of the rental agreement you signed?

I found the house disturbing. When Jane got the rental, she had to have the Housekeeper app installed on her phone, laptop and on a “special bracelet that triggers One Folgate Street’s sensors.” The Housekeeper app controls all functions of the house and will not let you Google anything. On page 13, the rental agent gives Jane the lowdown on a few of the many rules, “Basically, it’s a list of dos and don’ts. Well, don’ts mostly. No alterations of any kind, except by prior agreement. No rugs or carpets. No pictures. No potted plants. No ornaments. No books-” Jane says, "No books! That’s ridiculous!” The agent says, "No planting anything in the garden; no curtains-” Jane says, “How do you keep the light out if you can’t have curtains?” “The windows are photosensitive. They go dark when the sky does.” “So, no curtains. Anything else?” “Oh, yes,” Camilla (the agent) says, “There are about two hundred stipulations in all…” And I’ve only touched on a few the idiosyncrasies of the house. Sometimes it almost felt like the house was alive. I have to say that I was a little surprised when Emma’s murderer was revealed. I would tell you who it is but then you wouldn’t read the novel. And, that would be a shame because you would miss out on this year’s best thriller.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: In the ABOUT THE AUTHOR page, the following is recorded:

The Girl Before is the first psychological thriller from JP Delaney, a pseudonym for a writer who has previously written bestselling fiction under other names. It is being published in thirty-five countries. A film version is being brought to the screen by Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard.

I did a little research and found out that the author is Tony Strong, bestselling author of The Death Pit , The Poison Tree, The Decoy and Tell Me Lies.