NB : english version Blue Monday
is is the first Nicci French novel I have read. A child disappears and is never found. Years go by and another child disappears in the present day. One of Dr Frieda Klein’s patients describes their fantasy of having a child and the description matches the missing child so she reports it to the police. At first I thought this would be difficult to read because it is very psychotherapy oriented. Frieda is a psychotherapist and has psychotherapist friends. She is very annoying in that she always answers a question with a question, knows everybody’s reasons for doing and being, but gives nothing away about herself. However, as a character she grows within the book and you do get to know and understand her through her actions. You have to suspend disbelief a few times in this book – one of the characters introduced falls through the ceiling of her therapy room whilst she is with a patient, one of her patients has an identical twin which he does not know about, and Frieda wanders the London streets at night quite often and without harm or any sense of peril. Surprisingly I found the book easy to read, and the lengthy descriptions of scenes weren’t heavy or out of place. I enjoyed reading it so much in fact that I bought and read the second book in the series immediately.




There are a number of flaws in the work: Dr Klein, for example, never seems to sleep, and there are places where her lack of knowledge, or her sudden intuition is a little out of place. Additionally, some of the character development is weak; especially Dr Klein's sudden friendship with a Ukranian builder named Josef, who very quickly becomes her confidante. However, as this is the first in a series, the characters will grow and develop over the subsequent novels. There is of course, a handsome unattached police man to keep an eye on.

Overall, a racy and enjoyable read. I look forward to the next one.