Robbie's Wife

Robbie's Wife by Russell Hill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Washed up screenwriter Jack Stone goes to England to get away from things and hopefully get back into the swing of writing. However, the wife of the man Jack is staying with proves to be a much more interesting distraction. Interesting enough... to kill for!

Robbie's Wife is a tale in the mold of The Postman Always Rings Twice or Double Indemnity, the tale of an affair that leads to murder. The first two-thirds of the book are worthy of James M. Cain himself. Robbie's wife is something else and you can't really blame Jack Stone for falling for her, at first anyway.

Cricket and baseball both have batsmen but it isn't the same game, is it? That's a quote from the book and I'm using it to illustrate why I thought the last third of the book sucked. Hill had me going, right up until the big event happened. Then the book slows down to a snails pace and all comparisons to Cain and other greats go right out the window. Seriously, the last 60 pages tempted me to quit and/or tear the book in half. The twist at the end made it worthwhile to finish it but it was a chore getting there.

I'm giving this book a three despite my misgivings. I liked the first two-thirds enough not to give the book as a whole a two but I was sorely tempted. Not my favorite Hard Case but not terrible either.

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