An audio book.
In the prologue the narrator's in Tuscany. There's a dead man's body and police.
It's lock-down. Danielle walks home to her London flat which she shares with Matt. He receives a letter saying that he's inherited his great uncle's Tuscan farmhouse. Matt (who has Oxford and Harvard degrees; his father is still alive) used to spend his summers there.
She's a lawyer, late 20s, and sells up to finance the project. She'd like to try painting. He's always wanted to write a novel. So off they go.
Odd chapters are from Matt's (Matteo Rossi's) novel about a young guy, Ted, driving through France who picks up a teenage hitch-hiker girl, Nikki and a toddler, Harry. She leaves him, taking 100 euro, then finds him in the farmhouses where his gran and womaniser Luca live. Nikki sleeps with both Ted and Luca. The 3 of them extort money from a pervert. Harry is lost, then found. We learn that Danielle's reading the story - she guessed Matt's password for his laptop.
Meanwhile, Danielle's planning the renovation, which is becoming costly. She's discovered that Matt's great uncle had the reputation of being a paedophile. Matt seems to want remain detached from the locals, not trusting police or builders. He doesn't seem to like Antonio the estate manager either, but they make up. They're being to build the infinity pool that Danielle wants so much. 40 years before, a child had drowned in a well. He reads about serial killers and does a literary form of method acting, making her scared of him when he acts strangely.
His uncle was blackmailed by the mafia. Matt says there's something buried in the grounds. She discovers that there was once a real hitch-hiker, who looked like her, and who was found dead. She is attracted to Antonio and v.v. She visits the senile great aunt, who mistakes her for the hitch-hiker and gives her an envelope she's been keeping for 10 years hoping the hitch-hiker will return.
Nikki's attempt at an entrapment goes wrong. She knifes a youth to avoid being gang-banged. She leaves the area. Ted and Luca dispose of the body.
Danielle's increasingly suspicious of Matt's lying and gaslighting. She confronts Matt. He tells her that the hitch-hiker story was true, that he had to hide her blood-splattered clothes. She asks about the toddler. He tells her that there was no toddler. "The little boy was me," he said. After a while, Danielle and Antonio grow friendlier and become lovers (why was she unfaithful?). When Matt discovers this he tries to kill her. Antonio shoots him, making it look like suicide. He says that Matt killed the hitch-hiker. she's not sure what to believe.
"I thought to myself" appears twice. "I muttered out loud" appears once. Eyes shine, brim, and cloud over. The description of Italy is rather touristy, but I guess that's how it seems to her. The great aunt's envelope is hard to believe. Matt never seemed likable to me.
Other reviews
- goodreads (only 2.7)
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