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Nicci French narrative keeps the reader hooked
Book Review
By Derryll White
French, Nicci (2024). Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?
Nicci French is a pseudonym for a wife and husband team, Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. They have written 25 books together and have perfected the act of collaboration. This novel is seamless in its dialogue and character development. Many readers will remember the writers for their eight Freida Klein novels â dark psychological explorations of London and noir incidents within the old town.
âHas Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?â is different from the Klein series, removed from the city and using modern technology such as podcasts to string the story together. But the dark psychology remains as the stricken heart of the novel, with characters coming unraveled from the pressure of past events.
It is a real story in that every family has secrets. Every family has a dark, reclusive brother or sister, aunt or uncle, that is whispered about. Here, two families who grew up together in a small town have a shared, twisted psychology that never lets go. Itâs a small town â people talk. The narrative keeps the reader hooked, pulled through the keyhole of past events into a shocking present.
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Excerpts from the novel:
SEXISM â âYou know what Sally was saying about being in the police. How awful it was being a woman back then.â
   
âShe was bullied,â said Carrie.
   âHave you ever thought of leaving?â
   âAll the time. What about you?â
   âWhen I said I was going into the Met, my friends all thought I was joking. Some of them were appalled. My dad didnât much like it either, for different reasons. He thought Iâd have a hard time. Sometimes itâs like those dreams you have where youâre running in soft sand. Sometimes itâs like Iâve walked into the menâs changing room by mistake. But really, I like solving problems,â said Maud.
HISTORY â This is a story of dark secrets that were buried a lifetime ago, but which never lost their power, and of the grip that the past has upon the present.
– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them. When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.
