Faker

by Katy Gardner

A new mystery from this bestselling author - Ed and Sarah fall in love while doing aid work in Bangladesh, where they set up a campaign to prevent an oil giant from buying up local land. But their efforts prove unpopular in the village, and an atmosphere of mistrust envelops them. Then Ed disappears, presumed dead. Grief-stricken, Sarah tries to make sense of what has happened, only to be forced to confront some uncomfortable truths about the man she thought she knew . . .

216 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2009

About the author

Katy Gardner is a British author, best known for her novel Losing Gemma, which was turned into a two part mini series for ITV1 in 2006. As well as writing, she also teaches Social Anthropology at Sussex University.
-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Anita · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot idea was interesting - but the storytelling did not hold my interest. Too slow in developing. I skipped to the last few chapters to finish.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bangladesh in the 2000s. Not a satisfying read. It's pretty grim, in fact. The whole idea of being in a poverty-stricken country with an oil company that wants to rid the land of its occupants for the sake of greed is pretty depressing. But then you layer a missing-person's story on top of that with an obsessed partner and a sociopathic murderer. The ending was frustrating and confusing.
The only benefit I had of reading this story was that I'm satisfying a goal of reading a book about Bangladesh. It gives a flavor of the culture of the country.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sarah goes to Bangladesh to do aide work. She soon finds out she ia WAY out of her element, a "token" white helper. She soon meets Ed who is part of another type of aid work... building schools for very destitute village children.
Honestly, I found I did not like Sarah. She is weak and gullible and inept. Her attempts to help these people is met with weary tolerance. She does not have the fortitude or intellect to do this job. Ed gets dangerously mixed up with things political.
Faker begins with Ed running away from the shelter during a tornado. Devastated, Sarah returns to England despite believing Ed is alive. She finds that Ed was keeping secrets or not telling her things.
This novel was good, but its plotting was a bit difficult. Things do not really come together and make sense until the last third of the book. Instead of a sense of a puzzle coming together, it was more like catch up explanations. I did learn a bit about Bangladesh, so it will fulfill my World Challenge.

[Jean]

This was a good thriller that kept me guessing. An exotic setting, and do gooder Londoners off to help those less fortunate. I enjoyed it.