There’s a real 70s vibe to this pacy thriller with references to food, TV shows and all the grim misogyny and racism of the era. If you lived through the 70s as I did, it’s all very familiar: from Rimmel lipstick to The Sweeney and Crackerjack via public call boxes and tank tops. At 600 pages you certainly get your money’s worth.
The four main characters become linked through the accidental death of an abusive father and the historic disappearance of a grandfather. There are dark passages in the novel, but Meredith Vivian lets the story unfold with humour and tenderness. The humour is mainly subtle, verbal jousting but there are also more broadbrush, button-popping Carry On moments. When a Fray Bentos pie followed by Arctic Roll is an acceptable meal, and when a salad consists of lettuce, tomato and cress slathered in salad cream, it’s not surprising, but very funny when Tina suggests something new to Terry, her overweight father and he exclaims: ‘Mayonnaise! What’s wrong with salad cream…?’ The dialogue sparkles with wit and intelligence but I could lose a few of the greetings that sometimes help the reader in and out of a scene.
As a thriller, Gorgeous and Adorable is of course plot-driven, with some great twists and turns. But more than anything we’re rooting for the lovably flawed main characters: Tina, Gary, Terry and Geraldine, struggling against the odds to make happier lives for themselves. We want it to work out for them. Even if there are a white lies along the way and some heart-stopping violence, this is ‘cosy crime’ with lots of cups of tea, and believable protagonists who simply want what we all do – a satisfying life with a good jobs and close relationships. And villains who get their comeuppance in the end.
If you loved the police, time-travel drama, Life on Mars (BBC 1, 2006) you’ll love Gorgeous and Adorable.
*****
Ali Thurm 