Norman’s a master of hostage drama

The Secrets of Strangers by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin, $33), due for release on March 3. Reviewed by Felicity Price.

How different people behave in a crisis is the go-to subject for numerous novels, movies and TV series, and a hostage drama is fertile ground for some of the best, most gripping of them all. But what makes one stand out from the crowd is the ability of the writer to make the characters caught up in the situation, engaging as well as credible – and that goes for the hostage-taker as well as the hostages. In her sixth novel, The Secrets of Strangers, Charity Norman aces that.

Originally an English barrister, specialising in crime, family law and mediation, while assisting on a telephone crisis line, Norman moved to New Zealand with her family 10 years ago, and began writing crime fiction – very successfully, it seems, having been shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Crime Fiction award for her last novel.

This new one, The Secrets of Strangers, follows the traditional slow reveal – why the crazed gunman shot the London cafe proprietor then held several people hostage inside the Tuckbox Cafe in Balham, and the inevitable secrets the five strangers are hiding that could jeopardise their release.

The narrative is as tense and wellwritten as any Jodi Picoult drama, the characters are engaging and sometimes bring you to tears, even the dogs caught up in the crisis can draw out a sympathetic reader sniffle.

Norman has created a terrific suspense novel that ultimately shows how people might behave under extreme pressure, and reminds us that dealing with issues as they happen can save a lot of angst if they’re left to fester.