From the very beginning of this book, one feels that all is not right with Annie Fairhurst, the 28 year old narrator of this psychological thriller. Guided by her self-help books and armed with a highly embellished past, she moves into a new neighborhood and quickly makes new friends with next-door neighbors Lucy and Neil, and the Neighborhood watch leader Sangita and her husband Barry Choudry. But all is not well with Annie. So when she fools herself into thinking that Neil is in love with her, she obsesses about destroying his relationship with his girlfriend, Lucy. And the little shred of goodwill she may have managed to instill in the reader is quickly ruined by the slow unraveling of her sordid self.
'After the van had been loaded and sent on its way I took off all my clothes and kicked the sofa I was about to abandon. Not just a little kick either. I really belted it.'(opening lines)
'I was angry, to tell you the truth. To have to stand there in the sanctuary of my own garden, doing nothing more sinister than enjoying a warm evening, and then suffer the verbal assault of a woman I'd never even met, well, it was more than I could take.'(Chap.2, Loc.270)
'Although I was nervous, I smiled as I waited, flitting about the house making sure everything was straight and wishing my old neighbours could see me. I wasn't that traumatized naked woman hysterically kicking a sofa anymore: I was the hostess of a housewarming party, wearing a fancy party dress and patiently waiting her guests.'(Chap.3, Loc.398)
'The new books I'd been reading said that asking questions of people at parties made them think you were interesting but that didn't really make sense, and the book also said not to make the questions too personal, but they didn't tell what too personal was.'(Chap.3, Loc.440)
'The thing about Lucy, really, was the way she looked. It revealed a lot about who she was on the inside, to my mind. All that female flapping and concern didn't wash with me. She really did have the most feline features: wide square nails polished like claws, that stretched skin over her face, and no, I'm not embellishing, curious, clever eyes so green it didn't matter that they weren't almond-shaped at all. Her irises were contracted small in the bright light from the fluorescent strip on the ceiling and she blinked once before pouncing. I like cats, I do, but I know what they're capable of and I wasn't about to let Lucy paw me about like an injured bird while she was a guest in my house.'(Chap.5, Loc.772)
'I can only explain my behaviour as an adolescent outpouring of exuberance; a long postponed eruption of youthful enthusiasm that had been cut short by my early marriage. When it was over, I awoke from it dazed and exhausted, nauseous and somewhat shamefaced. At twenty-eight, most people would expect me to have grown out of such things, but, as I said, most people were not aware of the special circumstances attached to my case.'(Chap.7, Loc.1104)
'You're exactly right,' I said, 'there's no point making yourself unhappy for the sake of someone else. You've got to go out and make it happen, there's no point staying where you are and hoping that things will change when they won't.'(Chap.8, Loc.1257)
'It was very important to me that this house, which represented a new life and a new start, did not become associated with the problems of my past. As I lay there I realised, with an increasing sense of irritation, that my previous life was still trailing its influence over my current one. The house-warming party, which had seemed like such a good idea at the time, had actually been the occasion when these people had started to embed themselves in my life and I had allowed them to become unnecessarily embroiled in my history.'(Chap.10, Loc.1690)
'Loving Yourself: Tips for the Single Woman had contained a whole chapter about the effects personal grooming and fashion could have on a person's self-esteem, and had suggested that a woman who makes the effort to present herself in the best possible light would exude confidence and therefore become more attractive to others.'(Chap.11, Loc.1803)
'They say that falling in love is the same as being scared,' I said simply, 'the men on the rope bridge were scared, and they mistook it for falling in love. Most people have it all tangled up in their heads.'...'Some people get it all mixed up.'(Chap.12, Loc.2368)
'He looked uncertain, and didn't meet my eye. A sure sign he was shy too. And that was good: it showed that he thought of me and cared about the impression he was making so much it was making him self-conscious. I was worth being shy around, as far as Neil was concerned.'(Chap.15, Loc.2987)
'I rechecked the periwinkle on my eyelids, fixed a smudge and was ready to go when I heard the knock at the door. I wasn't surprised at the interruption, fate has a way of making us work hard for the things that we want, and I've come to realise it is so we value our dreams all the more dearly when they finally come to fruition.'(Chap.19, Loc.3597)
'The thing is, I'd decided already that Neil needed help, that I was the person to help him, and for his own good all traces of the woman had to be removed from his home. How else would he have the room to think? How else would he have room for me?'(Chap.20, Loc.3855)
Kindle Edition, 2011
4421 Locations
Book owned
Book qualifies for: 100+ Reading Challenge
Book idea from Diane @ Bibliophile by the Sea. I had to read the book she mentioned as her best read so far in 2011. Her very convincing review is HERE.
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