Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1717704 in Books
• Published on: 1998-06-01
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Anyone expecting sweet-as-saccharin writing from actress and cake-baker extrordinaire Jane Asher will be sorely disappointed in The Question--a stylish, acerbic novel which treats its topics of betrayal and revenge with a caustic wit that is at once aggressive and intense in its execution. The glacial and detached Eleanor--late fifties, well preserved, hitherto uncomplicated and affluent lifestyle bolstered by the successful career of her husband, childless but content--discovers that her 30-year marriage has been a sham, and as the full impact of John's transgression forces her into action, Eleanor turns into a wilful and calculating shrew hell-bent on revenge. There is never any doubt that Eleanor will make her perfidious husband pay for his misconduct, but Asher's canny treatment of a familiar subject pushes the story to its limit, making it a surprisingly classy and pleasingly unpredictable study of a woman who all but loses her sense of reason to the green eyed monster.

The Question certainly cannot to be compared with the cosy aga-sagas that perhaps one would automatically associate with Asher's familiar public persona. Instead, be prepared to be ambushed by the sharp writing, a plot that tumbles tartly into overdrive from the very first line, and the dramatic twist that shapes the ultimate, pungent and shockingly cruel ending.--Susan Harrison

Synopsis
John Hamilton didn't want children with his wife, but that was because he had led a secret life for 20 years, in the shape of a mistress and a 19 year-old daughter. Now, following a car crash which has left him in a vegetative state, the three women that he deceived decide his fate.

Customer Reviews

Readable but unsubtle
I've never read a book by Jane Asher before so was interested to see what she came up with. The story was quite gripping but I found the writing style bordered on cliche too often, and the two rival characters were extreme sterotypes: Elenor, a selfish bitch; and Barbara, pathetically needy. The book would have been much better if the two women had not been so sharply contrasting. I also thought sexual references had been shoe-horned in to make the book racier, but they didn't ring true. The themes were in Fay Weldon territory, and I kept feeling how much better the book would have been written by the latter.

Surprising and enjoyable
I didn't really know what to expect from this novel, but it was very exciting and gripped me from the beginning. The twists and turns of the plot were not exactly what I expected. The end was just amazing!

Good idea but writing technique lets her down
Revenge is always a gripping plotline - but after the "establishing shots" the story, or perhaps the telling of it, seems to falter. A little more craft needed. Nicely nasty ending, though!