Never judge a book by its cover

Gripping read satisfies the craving for a good novel

I was bored and craving a good a read when I picked up Things Unseen by Pamela Power.

I did not expect much of it, in terms of delivery of the exciting literature I was looking for. I thought I would read the opening chapter and end up tossing the book aside.

Despite the earlier doubt, I did not want the story the end when the book was thinning to its last pages.

I was so involved in the story and wanted to know if Craig and Emma got married and if she had given birth to a girl like she had wanted.

Things Unseen makes you think you know the characters; like you have seen them before... as in the case of your friends or relatives.

Your heart leaps when certain characters’ names come up and you roll your eyes when others are mentioned.

Based in the northern suburbs of Joburg, the “Parks” to be specific, the fiction takes you on a journey of deep dark secrets, deceit, lies, violence, a beautiful friendship, gory deaths and romance.

It is centred around Emma, a 36-year-old woman – almost 37 – married to a rich, cheating, selfish gynaecologist, Rick.

They live in a mansion in Westcliff. From the outside it looks like she has it all. But she and her lesbian friend Gay know that she is miserable, lonely and living a lie.

It turns out that her elderly mother, who was brutally murdered at Emma’s mansion, also knew that her husband was not good for her but, as a staunch Catholic, she could never advise her daughter to divorce.

But she left her son-in-law nothing in her will and gave strict instructions that the money left in a trust for Emma could only be accessed if she proved that she would spend it on herself and not with her husband.

It also turns out that Emma’s troubled, divorced brother and father to twins, Ross, went through the trouble of killing his mother, hoping to have access to her money. She did not leave a penny in Ross’s name. However, in a bizarre twist of fame, the old lady left money to the Catholic priest who had raped Ross as a child.

Ross, no saint himself, had framed his sister’s Zimbabwean gardener by leaving his fingerprints all over the golf club he used to kill his mom. He later killed the innocent gardener and threw his body into Emma’s neighbour’s pond.

But Ross is not done; he wants Emma dead too, to get to their mother’s money. Ross has no clue that Emma, who had been trying to fall pregnant for 17 years with her husband, had changed her will after finding out she was pregnant – with either Ross or her childhood sweetheart Craig.

But good old Captain Tshabalala saves Emma from her brother’s plan, but too late to spare Rick’s life. And, like a fairytale, in the end Emma lives happily ever after with her prince charming Craig. The paternity of their child however remains questionable.

Power’s witty and yet creative storytelling style makes for a gripping drama. The book is fast-paced enough to satisfy your craving for a good story as told by a novel.