An audio book. A marketing business HQ has been burnt down. The arsonist, looking at the scene, is worried that someone might have been inside. We get a few short police interviews, then go back to a few months before the fire. The time switches back and forth. Women's career/family choices soon emerges as a major issue.
- Janie is the wife of the business's boss, Harry Wood. She gave up her law job to raise a family, though she'd ended on a difficult case? She plans to leave Harry. She seemed to been involved in some way with a Miles Morgan, a friend of her husband.
- Laura, a director who returned to work after maternity leave to find her maternity cover, Mia, still at her desk. She complains to the boss, who she might have had a fling with. Mia's replaced her. she's offered a new opportunity, interviewing a possible new client - Miles Morgan.
- Mia has been retained by the company. She lives with her ailing mother and has a difficult older sister, Jess. She was unaccountably away from work on the Monday of the fire.
Laura is not popular at work (her reputation not helped by her "neglecting" her baby - leaving it at home with her husband who's given up his job). Her biggest client prefers Mia, who's popular in the office. She returned to work some weeks before the fire. She starts checking on Mia's background. Janie asks Mia out for a coffee. There's a company garden party 3 days before the fire.
Rather late in the book we learn Mia's sister has barely been able to walk since a car accident involving drink in some way. Mia might be planning revenge.
Mia's trying to get a minor colleague Sarah to complain about her boss Mike. Sarah resigns rather than taking it further Mia has been spreading rumours about Laura having an affair with Harry.
We learn that Mia's sister Jess was raped by Miles. Janie successfully defended him. Afterwards Jess, drunk, drove into a tree. We learn that Miles and Harry were in the building when it was set alight. Harry was saved. Miles wasn't.
All 3 women happen to be on the nearby quay when the fire's at its height. They ask each other questions. Then Jess appears. After, they're all rather secretive with the police.
Mia confesses to cover for Jess. We learn that 3 months later Laura is happily working from home and Jess is about to confess, having tried to enjoy herself.
It's slow at the sentence level. "time and time again" is repeated, so is "heart" - beating, thumping, breaking, melting. Sections like the one about the mothers' group picnic have a lot of show and tell. With at least 3 threads there are many opportunities for cliff-hangers, but also for readers to be frustrated by information being withheld. The plot at the end strains credibility.
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