Singled Out

by Simon Brett

Laura Fisher, a television producer, is separated from her husband and longs for a baby. Wisely or not, she seduces a stranger and achieves her aim, producing a baby boy which she brings up alone. Twenty years later, her child is a man. Laura, her brother and son cannot escape the past and the fact that lives are shaped by childhood experiences.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 5, 1995

About the author

Simon Brett, OBE, FRSL is a prolific British writer of whodunnits.

He is the son of a Chartered Surveyor and was educated at Dulwich College and Wadham College, Oxford, where he got a first class honours degree in English.

He then joined the BBC as a trainee and worked for BBC Radio and London Weekend Television, where his work included 'Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and 'Frank Muir Goes Into ...'.

After his spells with the media he began devoting most of his time to writing from the late 1970s and is well known for his various series of crime novels.

He is married with three children and lives in Burpham, near Arundel, West Sussex, England. He is the current president of the Detection Club.

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you would have told me that this book was written by Simon Brett, I would have looked askance. I have read with pleasure his short, humorous crime books in the Charles Paris series and they are a great rainy day read. But this book!!!!!!!....he must have been suffering from a hangover when he wrote it (my apologies Mr. Brett).

I hate the characters and the contrived plot. It is slightly erotic which was a bit of a surprise. It is complicated which it didn't have to be and I'm not even going to go into the plot which has great bones but went off the rails at some point. Even with all this, it did hold my attention enough for me to finish it. I actually knew who the murderer was halfway through the story. So if you are looking for a quick enjoyable Simon Brett read, this is not the one.

[John Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this one was a surprise and not at all what I was expecting after reading most of the Charles Paris , Mrs Pargetter and the Fethering series.

I had not seen a synopsis of the story and as I read I was unsure how to label it. It certainly lacked the light humour which was a feature of the above named series. At one stage I thought it might develope into a love story. Crime, which had featured in the others, was a possibility but the only crime mentioned seem to have happened many years before and had been solved and the perpetrator long since dead. When the sign of potential future 'menace' appeared at about the 2/3rds mark, I decided on 'Psychological Thriller' although thriller is in small letters and it is more a 'Psychological who-done-it'

Was this an 'Adult' book? The sex scenes were certainly graphically described and with some of the language used, I wondered if the author was trying to shock us. In my opinion, the book would have been better without . I see that the book was written in 1995 and perhaps, midway through both the Mrs Pargetter and the Charles Paris series, the author wanted 'something completely different'.

I appreciate that a background picture has to be painted before the action can be added but I was left too long wondering how the story would unfurl. When it did, I enjoyed the 'explanations' and, once again, managed to wrongly identify the source of the problems.

Sorry. Not my favourite of Mr Brett's work, I am looking forward to soon rejoining Carole and Jude , down in Fethering.

[Judy Sheluk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is very different from Brett's usual patter, but quite well done. A tad predictable in that I had sorted it out sooner rather than later, but a good story worth reading. I did miss the usual douse of humour that Brett's stories are known for, but then again, this is a suspense vs. a cozy/traditional, so that may be unfair.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sins of the father..... But whose father?

[Lynn Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christ on a bike! Simon Brett has begun writing geezer porn. I finished it because it would have been like leaving in the middle of a slow motion multi-car wreck. The overwhelming incest angle had me honking like a cat with a hairball.

Be warned.

[Keith Mills · Rating 1 out of 5]

As light and irrelevant to real life as flotsam. I kept going, hoping for meaning, for something better. It never came.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book, a bit dark especially compared to some of his other ones. Not so predictable villain, lots of false avenues to go down.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm - I usually like Simon Brett books but this one was odd and had way too much gratuitous sex for my taste.

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

A completely different type of novel from Brett. A woman decides to choose an anonymous man and get pregnant. She wants a child but not the hassle of a marriage/husband - been there, done that. At the one and only meeting with a stranger she becomes pregnant. Unfortunately, this selfish action by the career woman hold murderous results. A great novel and would even consider giving it space on my home shelves. Highly recommend. Lots of twists.

[Florence Woehrle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy read, dull characters

The beginning was promising but Laura actually turned out to be very dull, self-centered person. The rest of the characters were like shadows,especially Kent, who could have been interesting if fully developed. The ending was a fast, disappointing wrap-up.

[Juli Monroe · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not bad. The storyline of "can we overcome our biology" was interesting, but the ending was too pat. The red herring was too obvious, and the story just didn't quite come together. Glad I got it from the library.

[Susan Groves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on a basic whodunnit detective story. Reads very much as a screenplay and the characters could do with a little more fleshing out, but enough twists and turns to keep it interesting to the end.

[Bionic Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Also read Sept 2004

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little confusing at first, but the end wrapped it all up to a conclusive end. A little loose in context, but still enjoyable.