Because the New York Yankees play a minor part in this Daniel Hurst thriller, it’s appropriate to remember that not even the great Babe Ruth hit a home run every time at bat. Likewise, not every novel that Daniel Hurst writes is equivalent to a home run, but when he writes well there’s no one better. Look at chapters 9 through 12 in Her Husband’s Mistake to see what I mean.
Unfortunately the remainder of the book does not represent the best of Daniel Hurst’s writing, though he does create for his main characters a gut-wrenching dilemma not unlike Sophie’s Choice with a shocking resolution.
Jack and Lorna are a married couple from the UK in their forties. They have two children, Maddy and Alex. Maddy is about to turn 21 and Alex, 18. Fifteen years ago they lived in New York where Jack worked for a bank. While driving alone to a conference in Connecticut, he accidentally struck and killed a pedestrian, a boy named Conrad, and fled the scene, confessing his crime only to Lorna.
Fearing that he might be discovered as the driver, Jack convinces Lorna to hurriedly move back to the UK, where they both live with the guilt of Conrad’s death and their coverup, never intending to return to the States until fifteen years later when Maddy and Alex beg them for a short holiday in New York. But Conrad’s devastated family was rich and powerful and was patiently plotting their revenge.
The author reprises his familiar themes of secrets and betrayals in this book which lead to that gut-wrenching dilemma, but the aftermath to the shocking resolution was too hokey for my taste and Hurst looks like he’s leaving himself a possible sequel to a story which does not deserve one.
Without belaboring the baseball metaphor, I won’t call this book a strike out, but it’s sadly no better than a stand-up double.