The Mistake I Made

July 13, 2015
You’d think that with single mom Roz Toovey’s furniture already repossessed, her anxious nine-year-old son stealing money at school, and eviction looming, her situation couldn’t get much worse—but it decidedly does in this disappointing downer from CWA Gold Dagger Award–finalist Daly (Keep Your Friends Close). Despite her labors as a physiotherapist in England’s Lake District, Roz can’t see a way out from under the ever-compounding debt racked up by her feckless estranged husband. That is, until wealthy married patient Scott Elias makes her a tantalizingly lucrative and indecent proposal. Things start to get really complicated when, first, Roz’s boss, Wayne, stumbles into the arrangement; she then meets an eligible man she likes—who happens to be Scott’s brother-in-law. Though the plot starts to pick up speed about halfway through, which is around the time Wayne goes missing, by then there’s been enough of Roz’s largely dreary daily life that some readers may decide not to proceed further. Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory & Company (U.K.).

August 1, 2015
Physiotherapist Roz is drowning in debt. A failed business and a philandering ex-husband who has left her with massive credit-card bills have put her in a bind, and now her sweet nine-year-old son has been caught stealing at school in a misguided attempt to help his mom. When she is served with an eviction notice, she becomes desperate, and that's when she decides to accept an oily proposition from a wealthy client: he is willing to pay her handsomely if she will spend the night with him. He presents it as a no-strings-attached proposition, and the amount of money he is willing to pay will go a long way toward stabilizing Roz's finances. But her fateful decision has unintended consequences. Daly, as in her standout debut novel, Just What Kind of Mother Are You? (2013), has a real gift for mixing insightful writing on domestic life with a suspenseful premise. Her entertaining asides on relationships, as well as interesting information on physical therapy and spot-on depictions of workplace dynamics, are as engrossing as her intriguing plot. This is sure to delight her growing fan base.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

April 15, 2015

Single mom Roz's business has folded, and she's facing eviction when she meets wealthy, securely married Scott Elias, who will pay her a big chunk of money for a no-consequences one-night stand. It's a devil's bargain. After British author Daly's nerve-rattling debut, Just What Kind of Mother Are You?, and its follow-up, Keep Your Friends Close.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2015
A woman strikes a deal with a very rich lover and lives to regret it. Roz Toovey, a divorced physiotherapist, stands on the verge of losing everything she has. She's deep in debt and has no idea where she'll get the money to pay her bills. When bailiffs show up and take everything from her place but the kitchen sink, Roz and her little boy, George, contemplate a bleak future. Enter the wealthy Scott Elias. A friend of Roz's sister and brother-in-law, Scott has a picture-perfect marriage to Nadine. The golden couple jet-set around and hold expensive parties, but Scott doesn't care about all that. He wants Roz, and he's willing to pay for the experience. Scott offers Roz a ridiculous amount of money to have sex with him-no strings attached-and Roz, desperate to keep a roof over her head, takes him up on it. But there's a catch: Wayne, Roz's boss at the clinic where she works, has found some money missing, and, having figured out her arrangement with Scott, he wants part of the action or he'll pin the theft on her. Roz meets him at his place and agrees to a one-time sexual encounter, but things go awry, and when she gets to work on Monday, Wayne is missing. Then Roz is left to figure out how much the police know about her, as well as deal with Scott's increasing demands. Daly's stories are always compelling but rarely plausible, and this one's no exception. This time she includes too much detail about physiotherapy (providing, for example, a detailed explanation of sciatica, even though the condition is immaterial to the story) and creates a highly flawed and morally compromised protagonist, making it difficult to empathize with her. Although it takes too long to get the narrative ball rolling, Daly heats things up fast from there. A slow start, hypnotic storyline, and overly neat ending make this not one of Daly's best.

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