When a woman falls to her death from the top floor of a twenty-five-story office building in the heart of the City of London, the police come knocking on Tate Kinsella's door.
Tate, a temp for a French bank in the office building, was on the premises when the tragedy occurred, and detectives want to speak to her.
Before Tate is interviewed, she accepts the duty solicitor (public defender), who's called Sarah. Afterwards, Sarah summarizes Tate's statement: "You told the police, and you told witnesses at the scene, that you'd been with the deceased inside the building - that you were there with her before she died. You told them that it was all your fault."
Tate says she was confused and didn't mean it, and insists, "Yes, I was there. In the building....But I wasn't WITH her. I didn't do anything wrong. I told the police that. But they didn't believe me."
Tate admits she met the deceased woman the day before the tragedy, and tells this story: Tate's bank was having its annual Christmas Party, and Tate went up to the roof for a cigarette. A woman was sitting on the ledge of the roof, in danger of falling (or jumping). Tate gave the woman a cigarette and started up a conversation.
The woman said her name was Helen Jones and her life was a mess. Tate talked Helen down, and suggested they go out for a drink. Tate and Helen went to a bar, talked about their troubles, and struck up an acquaintanceship.
The next day, Helen called Tate and said she'd lost a diamond earring the night before. So Tate and Helen went back to the office building, and Helen searched the staircases while Helen searched other places. Then, somehow or other, Helen went off the roof and was killed.
Tate is in danger of being arrested for murder, and Sarah expresses skepticism about Tate's story.
So little by little Tate tells Sarah what REALLY happened.
From here, the novel goes back and forth in time as Tate talks about her teenage years; the friends she hung out with; her classmates at school; and her failed career as an actress (she made one commercial).
Then Tate goes on to talk about her temp job at the French bank, which she needs to make ends meet. HOWEVER, Tate doesn't have just one story - her tale keeps changing and morphing and transforming.
Interspersed with Tate's story, there are chapters about Tate's manager at the bank, whose name is Dan. Dan and his wife Maddy have a 14-year-old daughter called Emily, who's in the midst of a teen rebellion.
In a way, Emily's adolescent behavior is reminiscent of Tate's adolescent behavior, and this is an important element of the novel. To say more would be a spoiler.
I was completely engaged with the story for the first third of the book. However, when Tate kept making additions and corrections to her long complicated tale, I got bored, thinking 'can we just cut to the chase here.'
To be fair, this novel is very popular and has lots of positive reviews. The book DOES address interesting issues like 'punishment' and 'vengeance', but that didn't save it for me. Still, given all the 4 and 5 star reviews, you might want to give it a try.
Rating; 3 stars
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