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Lost
Political intrigue in Graham Greene territory snares a young widow on a Mediterranean island in a taut thriller by a deft new literary talent. The plane is late; a small-time hood named Mickey da Cruz is getting edgy. From the outset of this splendidly crafted novel of suspense, suspicion hangs heavily in the air, and page by gripping page, terror insidiously tightens its hold. Just as Carroll & Graf's widely acclaimed literary thriller Lying With the Enemy uncovered the horror at the heart of a Nazi-occupied island in the English Channel, Lucy Wadham in her debut novel bares the corrupt soul of a barren, sun-drenched Mediterranean island rent by ancient enmities. Italian gangsters haunt its alleys, and The Movement - a cadre of idealistic freedom fighters - has declined into a band of racketeers. The people, meanwhile, suffer poverty and political oppression as they long without hope for independence. This island is no paradise. Alice Aron knows this morally desolate place. Now widowed, she returns to her dead husband's home with her two young sons. She does not know the perils that await her there. She does not know that she will be thrust into the center of a deadly conflict between a driven police detective, Antoine Stuart, and the criminally ruthless power-monger Coco Santini. She does not know that within hours her seven-year-old son will vanish into the midday air from the middle of the village square. A child's life hangs in the balance, and a woman's destiny is profoundly altered as the unexpected and unpredictable events unravel in this craftily wrought, tersely told, and thoroughly compelling novel.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
2 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Lucy Wadham
9 books11 followersLucy Wadham is a British writer of crime and thriller novels, but her most widely reviewed work is her autobiographical account of her life in France.
Wadham was born in London in 1964 and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. She has worked as a news assistant at the BBC Paris bureau since 1989. She is currently a freelance journalist and regularly contributes to The Independent, The Spectator, and The New Statesman. She lives in France with her four children.
Her first novel, 'Lost' (2000), a thriller set on Corsica was shortlisted for the Macallan Gold Dagger Award. The second novel, 'Castro's Dream' (2003), about the Basque terrorist movement, ETA is set in the Basque Country. Her latest book, 'The Secret Life of France,' is an autobiographical account of her life in France. She writes a regular blog on the same theme under the same name
Wadham was born in London in 1964 and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. She has worked as a news assistant at the BBC Paris bureau since 1989. She is currently a freelance journalist and regularly contributes to The Independent, The Spectator, and The New Statesman. She lives in France with her four children.
Her first novel, 'Lost' (2000), a thriller set on Corsica was shortlisted for the Macallan Gold Dagger Award. The second novel, 'Castro's Dream' (2003), about the Basque terrorist movement, ETA is set in the Basque Country. Her latest book, 'The Secret Life of France,' is an autobiographical account of her life in France. She writes a regular blog on the same theme under the same name
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 27, 2025
Tikrai ne mano skonio knyga. Ko ji verta "objektyviai"? Sunkus klausimas, kai knyga nepatinka.
Gera istorijos idėja: Viduržemio jūros saloje (išgalvotoje, bet labai panašioje į Korsiką) pagrobiamas vaikas. Vieniša turtinga motina nežino, kuo pasitikėti: pavargusiu policininku ar žiauriu ir cinišku vietos "krikštatėviu". Abu žada vaiką gražinti ir, aišku, tarp jų abiejų - savi santykiai. Autorė įtikinamai parodo nusikaltėlių, policijos ir "amžinų" teroristų grupuočių interesų kamuolį.
Bet mane per daug vargino tai, ką net sunku apibūdinti. Matyt, stilius. Tarkim, autorė pasakoja apie "krikštatėvio" mitybos įpročius. Ne pačius sveikiausius. Dėl jų kaupiasi bezdalai (čia ir toliau - beveik cituoju). Bet bezdalai vargina tik aplinkinius. Pačiam "krikštatėviui" jie malonūs, nes jis mėgsta kūnu jausti temperatūrų skirtumus. Dėl tos pačios priežasties jam patinka ir jo meilužė. Ir taip toliau.
Ką visa tai reiškia, aš, kaip sako vienas mano bičiulis, atsisakau suprasti. Bet kam nesunku brautis per bezdalų ir kitokio kūniškumo bei psichologizavimo bruzgynus, tam knyga gal ir gali patikti.
Gera istorijos idėja: Viduržemio jūros saloje (išgalvotoje, bet labai panašioje į Korsiką) pagrobiamas vaikas. Vieniša turtinga motina nežino, kuo pasitikėti: pavargusiu policininku ar žiauriu ir cinišku vietos "krikštatėviu". Abu žada vaiką gražinti ir, aišku, tarp jų abiejų - savi santykiai. Autorė įtikinamai parodo nusikaltėlių, policijos ir "amžinų" teroristų grupuočių interesų kamuolį.
Bet mane per daug vargino tai, ką net sunku apibūdinti. Matyt, stilius. Tarkim, autorė pasakoja apie "krikštatėvio" mitybos įpročius. Ne pačius sveikiausius. Dėl jų kaupiasi bezdalai (čia ir toliau - beveik cituoju). Bet bezdalai vargina tik aplinkinius. Pačiam "krikštatėviui" jie malonūs, nes jis mėgsta kūnu jausti temperatūrų skirtumus. Dėl tos pačios priežasties jam patinka ir jo meilužė. Ir taip toliau.
Ką visa tai reiškia, aš, kaip sako vienas mano bičiulis, atsisakau suprasti. Bet kam nesunku brautis per bezdalų ir kitokio kūniškumo bei psichologizavimo bruzgynus, tam knyga gal ir gali patikti.
October 22, 2015
I chose this book to fill a category of the 2015 reading challenge - a book by an author with your same initials - and if I hadn't needed it for the challenge, I would not have read past the 3rd chapter.
On the surface, this book is about the kidnapping of a young boy and the investigation and subsequent rescue attempt. In truth, it is a mangled mess, with characters who don't quite seem to interact in a normal way, sub stories that do not enhance the plot in way at all and dialogue that lacks any thrilling content.
The two main characters, Stuart who is a policeman and Santini who is a mobster, hate each other and spend a great deal of time trying to interfere with each other's business, for no reason that seems to have anything to do with the plot of this book. When the child is kidnapped, Stuart immediately decides that Santini must be involved, based on absolutely no evidence. He rushes to accuse his enemy, who responds pretty much as anyone would in that situation, by mocking Stuart. The two continue to do battle with each other through the medium of the grieving mother. Each claims they will help her find her child, each falls a little in love with her, although she exhibits no personality throughout the book because, she is, of course, a hysterical parent of a missing 7 year old. Each tells her consistently that she is can't trust the other at all.
Through the entire story, it is never clear what happened between these two that inspired such hatred. There are allusions to an old murder that Santini allegedly committed, but that issue has nothing to do with the current kidnapping. As a result, the tension between the characters feels contrived and unrealistic. The same is true of the relationships each has to the Alice, the grieving mother. Stuart spends all of a few minutes interviewing her with regard to her missing son. Santini spends even less time with her. But both desire her, even claim to love her.
The action in this book moves along haltingly. At times, characters seem to materialize out of thin air or to be in two places at once. The dialogue is trite.
The story could have been much better if the author had left out the detailed descriptions of very minor characters, the thin references to past events on the island and the sub stories that detracted from, rather than helped move the story along.
My advice, if you enjoy a thriller, don't read this one.
On the surface, this book is about the kidnapping of a young boy and the investigation and subsequent rescue attempt. In truth, it is a mangled mess, with characters who don't quite seem to interact in a normal way, sub stories that do not enhance the plot in way at all and dialogue that lacks any thrilling content.
The two main characters, Stuart who is a policeman and Santini who is a mobster, hate each other and spend a great deal of time trying to interfere with each other's business, for no reason that seems to have anything to do with the plot of this book. When the child is kidnapped, Stuart immediately decides that Santini must be involved, based on absolutely no evidence. He rushes to accuse his enemy, who responds pretty much as anyone would in that situation, by mocking Stuart. The two continue to do battle with each other through the medium of the grieving mother. Each claims they will help her find her child, each falls a little in love with her, although she exhibits no personality throughout the book because, she is, of course, a hysterical parent of a missing 7 year old. Each tells her consistently that she is can't trust the other at all.
Through the entire story, it is never clear what happened between these two that inspired such hatred. There are allusions to an old murder that Santini allegedly committed, but that issue has nothing to do with the current kidnapping. As a result, the tension between the characters feels contrived and unrealistic. The same is true of the relationships each has to the Alice, the grieving mother. Stuart spends all of a few minutes interviewing her with regard to her missing son. Santini spends even less time with her. But both desire her, even claim to love her.
The action in this book moves along haltingly. At times, characters seem to materialize out of thin air or to be in two places at once. The dialogue is trite.
The story could have been much better if the author had left out the detailed descriptions of very minor characters, the thin references to past events on the island and the sub stories that detracted from, rather than helped move the story along.
My advice, if you enjoy a thriller, don't read this one.
May 9, 2019
Het is haar debuutroman en voor mij niet dadelijk een succes. Het is een rommeltje van een thriller met een ontvoering en een politieke roman. Deze twee verhaallijnen komen samen daar de verdachte in beide verhaallijnen het hoofdpersonage is.
Men kan wel zien dat de schrijfster een journaliste is omdat zij vanuit haar ervaring een mooie beschrijving kan geven van het eiland en de verhouding tussen de eilandbewoners en het vaste land.
Het is wel spannend maar het een veel gebruikt thema.
Men kan wel zien dat de schrijfster een journaliste is omdat zij vanuit haar ervaring een mooie beschrijving kan geven van het eiland en de verhouding tussen de eilandbewoners en het vaste land.
Het is wel spannend maar het een veel gebruikt thema.
September 6, 2017
Didn't really understand what was going on.....very strange book with a promising opening chapter that just went downhill.....
Want to read
October 11, 2019Synopsis: intrigue snares a young widow on a Mediterranean island. Italian gangsters haunt it and former freedom fighters are now racketeers.
July 27, 2012
Der Klappentext an sich ist ja wenig aussagekräftig, finde ich. Allerdings spiegelt es andererseits auch gut den Inhalt wieder. Nicht im eigentlichen Sinne, aber WIE der Inhalt ist. Ich fand das Buch nämlich ziemlich langweilig. Denn der Leser weiß einfach ALLES. Nichts bleibt verborgen, über nichts muss man grübeln. Die Handlung wird mal aus der Sicht von Alice, mal aber auch aus der Sicht des Enführers geschildert. Man weiß immer genau, wo Sam, also der Sohn von Alice, sich gerade aufhält. Vielleicht nicht 100%ig, aber doch im Großen und Ganzen. Dadurch geht die ganze Spannung natürlich verloren. Das Ende des Buches fand ich auch ganz schlecht. Erst endet es abrupt, um einige Zeit später wieder einzusetzen. Aber das, was dazwischen quasi passierte, gefiel mir gar nicht.
December 17, 2017
Unusual thriller of potential tragedy when a child is
kidnapped on the island of Corsica.
kidnapped on the island of Corsica.
August 18, 2012
This book will have a place beside my bed as a cure for insomnia. I found the book very boring, especially given that is was supposed to be a thriller. Too bad.
April 15, 2015
drew me in. really enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews