M2C Online Bookclub - The Heart Broke In (Part 3)

diagram of a heart by Leonardo da Vinci

'The Heart Broke In' has been described as a moral thriller by Philip Pullman and indeed, I found myself unable to put this book down until I had found out what decision each character had made and what the consequences were for them. The malignant Val Wilding flits in and out of the storyline like the bad fairy at a christening, his motives for seeking revenge and media-wide day of reckoning for those on his hitlist seem rooted in his wife's death but ultimately remain murky and at the end he disappears from view with a flourish of his villains cape. Ritchie tries to change and wants to believe he's able to change but is only capable of self deception and self interest - his (ex)wife Karin remains a mystery to the end, perhaps because Ritchie doesn't really know her himself.
I found the different ways that both Bec and Ritchie remembered their father very interesting, Ritchie arguably had a truer recollection of him than Bec (remember the heron?) and Bec's memory seems more sentimental, at the end of the book she has constructed a scenario that she likes to think may have been true regarding her father's death - it doesn't matter to her whether it's accurate or not, just that it's plausible.
And as for Alec and Bec, well, I found the last chapter immensely satisfying  - I was glad that Bec hadn't been punished for her decision, the memory of which has somehow sustained her in her relationship with Alec as she comes to the realization that ''she was constrained not by some universal structure of good and evil, but by the needs of the ones she loved.''

Other books to read if you've enjoyed The Heart Broke In:

Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski  - Set in Thailand, this gripping page-turner has it all - missionaries, anthroplogists, sexual taboos and murder.

Pure by Andrew Miller - in 1785 a young engineer is charged with demolishing the oldest cemetery in Paris - it's a year that will change his life forever. A vivid and eloquent novel.

M2C Bookclub Competition - win tickets to James Meek event in September