Ruth Mancini

The Woman on the Ledge is a deliciously twisted story with plot points that I would never have seen coming in a million years. It begins with a woman being arrested for murder and then takes us back to show what led to it happening.

The main premise of the story is a woman who falls from a tall building to her death. Did she jump? Was she murdered. The protagonist tells us what happened but make no mistake, this is a story that is as multi-layered as an onion and just when I thought I had a clear handle on it another curveball was thrown my way.

Ruth Mancini has delivered a psychological thriller that kept me in its thrall from beginning to end. The plotting is the work of a genius and truly kept me guessing. So clever! There was one aspect that I did find a little hard to believe one person, let alone two, could carry out, but this book is populated by strong women so who knows. If you fancy an original and completely transfixing book that will have you quickly turning the pages to find out what really happened, then The Woman on the Ledge is the book for you. I certainly loved it.… (mehr)

I first read a novel by this author five years ago and promised myself, despite a few niggles with it, I'd read another, as she'd made quite an impression. You always hope the standard is going to be kept. And it certainly is.

This is compelling, well written, superbly characterised and totally captivating. The Woman on the Ledge: well, it's what you expect. A woman does indeed fall to her death from a high ledge, but nothing is quite as it seems. Why did she do it? DID she do it, or was she pushed? Tate Kinsella is a suspect, but there's something she's keeping from the police. And her lawyer.

And there begins the tangled web! Absolutely brilliant. Suspenseful right to the very end.

I didn't like Mancini's use of the present-tense narrative when I read her In the Blood, so I was a bit disappointed to find that it was used here, too. However, I got over it (!), as a lot of the story is back story and therefore in the past tense (hooray!). Present-tense narrative just strangles a story, in my humble opinion.

That aside, excellent book, and I really must not leave five years to read another by this very talented author.… (mehr)

This was a very compelling crime thriller. Totally unputdownable.

Sarah Kellerman, a criminal defence lawyer, is to defend, Ellie, accused of abuse and attempted murder of her young baby. All the evidence points to her guilt, but Sarah has trouble joining the dots in the case and is determined to find out what really happened, despite having to juggle the needs of raising her mentally disabled five-year-old son and the demands of a job that she desperately needs to provide for her and her son.

Despite my enjoyment of this book…and I really did enjoy it…I felt that the present tense narrative didn’t work. I also felt the first-person POV didn’t work: there were a couple of complex characters who needed their own POV, I thought.

But, this was an extremely competently written novel, and Sarah was brilliantly portrayed, with passion and conviction by the author. I didn’t find it hard to guess the role of two of the major players quite early on, but wow, it was a gripping roller coaster of ups, downs, twists and turns before we got to the end.

A thoroughly satisfying, well-written thriller. I’m very definitely going to read more by this author.… (mehr)