Objects of Desire is the first book by C.J.Emerson and an exceptional one. It is beautifully written and has a complicated plot with a number of strands which only come together at the end. It has a Welsh setting, specifically a village called Gwenstow, which gives it an authentic background, with some excellent descriptive passages of evocative scenery. The novel also touches on visits to London and Bristol with journeys to and fro.
As often happens, the first chapter, while seeming not quite to fit in with the story, is a key to what happens later. By giving up her new baby daughter for adoption, Jess is setting in motion an unexpected chain of events which catch up with her further down the line.
The variety in the life of Jess is indicated by the different names she has assumed. The most relevant phases of her life have been as a singer with a famous group called Hacksaw, a photographer and her university training as a social worker. Her life as a social worker is not made easier by her move from London to Wales. Far from being an escape to the rural idyll for which she had hoped, her life takes on a struggle against evil, every bit as harrowing and as dangerous as her life in the city had been. The murder of a boy, one of her child cases, and the disappearance of two sisters seem to be directly her area of responsibility. The appearance of the odd severed hand and the use of sawn-off fingers to open a lock system add an extra dimension of horror.
The use of internet pictures by international paedophile rings has become one of the more usual features of crime novels and there usually is a computer expert, in this case Denny, who understands how sophisticated these operations can be. Some of this I failed to grasp but take it on trust.
Altogether, this is a very accomplished first novel. I look forward to its successor.
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Rosemary Brown