My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The third book in the trilogy was not written in a style that I felt comfortable with. It hopped from third person to first, using Baba’s point-of-view and, although it was quite amusing in parts, I found it irritating and confusing. Kate’s marriage to Eugene is essentially over and Baba is now the wife of a builder who lacks the smooth, but overbearing, control of Kate’s ex-spouse. It was difficult not to feel both sorry and annoyed with Kate when she seems to lack the spirit to fight back, having found herself alone and without her child when Eugene manipulates her life from a distance. But Baba comes through, surprisingly, when her friend is allowed to live with her and Frank. What I suspected from the first two novels, about the pair of best friends, has eventually come about when sensitive Kate needs Baba, and not the reverse. Baba always seemed unnecessarily cruel and unfair to her friend throughout the first two books but here she is understanding, even kind, through her down-to-earth and pragmatic attitude to life. This novel has an epilogue that I found uncomfortable and somewhat distressing to read. However, later consideration made me realise the inevitability of the events it touches upon had to be faced.
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