You belong to me by Colin Harrison
Bloomsbury, 2017. ISBN 9781408886298
(Age: Adult) Recommended. Themes: Murder; Greed; Maps; Drama
(Thriller). You Belong to Me! Greed, jealousy, desire and ambition
clash violently in this tense drama set in New York amongst the
upwardly mobile and the rich and well-connected. Paul Reeves, the
central character is a twice married, but now single lawyer with a
passion for old maps of the New York region. This passion borders on
obsession and impacts his current relationships and direction. His
neighbour, Ahmed Mehraz, is of Iranian extraction and has
successfully risen to great heights within American society and
particularly in the complex world of global business. His beautiful
wife, Jennifer, is an adornment and possibly a 'possession' that
might prove to be a future political asset as proof of his
'neo-American' success, but she hides a past with rough edges. Into
this cauldron of external success and the rise-to-the-top arrives an
ex-flame for Jennifer, an all-American ex-serviceman - William
Wilkerson, whose relationship with Jennifer fractures the surface of
the veneer of success. The successful Ahmed sets in motion an
engineered solution to prevent the interloper from destroying his
plans for the future and with Paul and Jennifer also embroiled in
keeping William from Ahmed's attention, the circumstances of their
life become very complicated. Tension, violence, and organised crime
enter the otherwise perfect world of the richly connected
neighbours. Even though past horrors of Tehran's history have been
left behind for the Mehraz family, the reader feels the tension as
current horrors involving Mexican assassins and murder slowly twist
what seemed to be glamour and success into a miry mess. And into all
of this we see the wheeling and dealing of Paul Reeves as he tries
to get his hands on his own prized possession - an antique map of
New York.
Harrison has written a slowly ratchetting thriller, that uses New
York and its locale as a contributing influence in the tension. I
loved the insight into Antique Map collecting and the
uber-successful business world with its flashy botoxed-facade as the
setting for this slow-burn tense drama. With some quite violent
moments, this is not for the faint hearted, and definitely for an
adult audience as jealousy, sexual pursuit and obsession take over -
who belongs to whom?
Recommended for adult readers who enjoy the Drama/Thriller genre
(with some violence)
Carolyn Hull