Literary reviews by Tim Love.
Warning: Rather than reviews, these are often notes in preparation for reviews that were never finished, or pleas for help with understanding pieces. See Litref Reviews - a rationale for details.

Saturday, 27 September 2025

"One bad thing" by M.K. Hill

An audio book.

Years ago, Hannah (her 1st person PoV) and Cameron did something bad to Martin. In the prologue we learn that she's done something worse since.

Hannah is married to Sean with an 18 month child Amber. Their childcarer Siobhan reminds Hannah of her dead sister Natalie, who had mental problems. She doesn't get on with her father because she didn't attend her sister's funeral. There were suggestions at the time that she'd faked her suicide. Hannah is doing her last radio appearance as a psychologist - she's moving to TV. A caller, Diane, says she's going to take revenge on the people who humiliated her brother. He killed himself. Hannah meets Diane (who's over 6ft tall) in a cafe, offering her advice. When Diane shows her a photo of her and Martin together, she admits being at university with Martin.

We go back 20 years when Hannah was a student, bitter that her sister was getting so much of her parents' attention. She got very drunk at a party and a stranger, Cameron, helped her. Over time they became a couple. She liked him, though he was unadventurous. When she pointed this out he stole from a till to impress her. Eventually she ghosted him.

Diane says she wants friendship, not revenge. She sends Hannah inspirational txts. She stalks Hannah. She might have pushed her father downstairs in a restaurant. Hannah becomes suspicious about Sean (she finds condoms and drugs in the shed) and Siobhan (she takes Amber on unplanned trips and leaves her phone off). When Hannah's about to sack Siobhan she learns that Sean tried to kiss Siobhan

Lizzy is her bestie. She contacts Cameron who she's not contacted for maybe 20 years. He's a London GP. His wife Penny of 5 years has terminal cancer.

Diane hints about Sean's infidelity. Hannah finds Sean in bed with not Lizzy but her husband. She chucks Sean out of the house. Siobhan moves in. Diane steals the baby then turns up with the baby on Hannah's street. One night Hannah visits her to find out if she knows more about anything. A fire starts and Diane dies. Cam (who saved Hannah from the fire) and Hannah sleep together.

20 years before, Hannah and Cam tempted Martin (who Hannah knew to be nasty to women) into spending a night with them. She covered herself with fake blood so when when Martin woke, Cam could make him think he'd drunkenly killed her.

Hannah phones Penny, who hopes Hannah will make him happier than she and Charlotte did. The police say the fire was deliberate, started with firelighters like she has in the shed. She then at last decides that it would be useful to find out who Charlotte is - she's his first wife who died in an accident. They had a daughter. Sean pops in. Siobhan suggests that she go away with Sean and the baby to a cottage on the Norfolk coast. Amazingly, Hannah agrees.

Hannah visits Penny, who doesn't have cancer. Hannah realises that Penny is being given debilitating drugs. Hannah, using Cam's laptop, discovers that he has webcams installed in her house. Cam turns up, kills Penny and makes Hannah drive them towards the cottage. He says that they can live together, that Diane was a patient who'd do anything for him - she wasn't Martin's sister. He tells her he killed her sister so that she'd be happier. He'd do anything for her. Diane suddenly loosens Cam's safety-belt and crashes the car, killing him. She has superficial injuries.

She discovers that Siobhan is Cam's daughter. She has incapacitated Sean and is thinking about killing herself and the baby. Hannah talks her round, promising to give her all the help she needs.

"My heart thumps [pounds, hammers] in my chest" occurs at least 4 times. Hannah seems overly calm when there's a surprise, and prone to making bad decisions when she's given time to think. The plot of having been married to a gay/bi man for years isn't developed at all. I'm suprised that Cam was so patient over the years. That said, the Cam character is more believable than Hannah. Plot (to be fair, there's a lot of it) steamrollers over characterisation.

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