CHARITY NORMAN The Secrets of Strangers. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
NZ-based Charity Norman’s sixth novel is her second to be shortlisted for Best Crime Novel in the Ngaio Marsh Awards.
Taut, tense and cleverly constructed, The Secrets of Strangers is a thriller set in London that explores human behaviour in the high-risk environment of a hostage situation. Strangers, whose only common denominator is their choice of morning coffee stop, find themselves being held by a crazed and desperate gunman and have to find a way to work together to stay alive. Along the way there are so many secrets, inner demons and twists that readers may be left wondering, strangely, if the gunman is the least of anyone’s problems.
The story mostly centres around the hostage-taker, Sam, and a core group of his hostages. Each character’s story is told in a series of shifting viewpoints:
Gunman Sam:
Dad would be shocked and disgusted if he saw Sam threatening the lady. He’d be livid, even if he knew the safety catch was on and Sam would never have pulled the trigger.
Neil, a homeless man:
It’s the rattle of coins dropping into his cup that wakes him. That, and his friend the one-legged pigeon with his happy-bird crooning. That, and the whole bench shuddering as a bus wheezes down the High Road.
Abi, the driven, unhappy, career woman, desperate to start a family:
She felt his kiss as he crept out at six, heard his hopeful whisper – Let me know, won’t you? Even if it’s not good news? – and nodded without opening her eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him. Better to wait for the phone call to make her latest failure official.
Mutesi, the aged care nurse, there with her daughter Brigitte and grandson Emmanuel:
Mrs Dulcie Brown died in the early hours of the morning. She drifted over the bar from sleep to death, no fuss or fanfare, her heart finally still after almost a hundred years of life. Three in the morning is a popular departure time from the Prince Albert wing: the peaceful hour, when night staff move quietly through their routines and the cooks haven’t yet begun to clatter.
The fates of these people merge in their local cafe, where they cross paths frequently without knowing it, picking up their take-away, grabbing a cup of tea after or before work, handing over child care responsibilities, stopping in for the loo and somewhere warm. But on this particular morning, an irate young man bursts in, raises a shotgun and fires twice at the owner.
Someone’s screaming obscenities. Who the hell would be starting a riot in a cafe at this time of the morning?
Only the gunman’s reaction is not the one that you’d normally expect, and Sam turns out to be a hostage-taker with a difference:
‘I think I’ve killed Robert. I think I’ve killed … Jesus, have I killed Robert?’
In the hours that follow, as police negotiator Eliza tries to find a way out for the hostages, including the one who hides even from the other hostages, the group works together to form a bond, diffuse any possible escalation of the violence, and find a way out for everyone. Including Sam. As Mutesi sees it:
… today is different. She’s told her story in the hope of reaching out to Sam. He’s lost. Perhaps she can help him find his way. She wants him to live. She wants him to have a tomorrow.
The stories of each of the characters in this novel – hostages, hostage-taker and negotiator – are told in a series of shifting viewpoints. There’s a rawness to all these people that is emotionally charged, without being manipulative. Throwing them together in such a dangerous situation, where thinking of your feet is intertwined with the sorts of things that go through people’s heads when they may be about to die, creates a tense, locked-in scenario that’s hard to look away from.
Along the way, the tragedy of what makes a young man this desperate is revealed. This is how Abi first sees him:
She has a fleeting impression of furious energy. Curly hair, heavy eyebrows. Grey cable-knit sweater and jeans. Not at all bad-looking, actually ….
He doesn’t look like a violent person, he doesn’t sound like a violent person, and his backstory, as it is revealed, describes how he got into this situation. Which then leaves everyone with a major dilemma – do you fear, hate or pity the stranger who holds sway over whether you live or die?
Cleverly executed, there are many moments in The Secrets of Strangers where readers will be unnerved, disconcerted, distressed and genuinely torn – the same emotions the characters are trying to process. It’s a novel designed to rattle stereotypes and question the definition of black and white, right and wrong. It takes you deep into the humanity of a breaking point, into what people do when pushed to the edge, and what could happen to those who make it to the other side.
Charity Norman The Secrets of Strangers Allen and Unwin 2020 352pp $19.99
Karen Chisholm blogs from austcrimefiction.org, where she posts book reviews as well as author biographies.
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