Reviews

A Keeper by Graham Norton

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rhidee's review

3.0

This format just did not work for me. It was tedious to switch back and forth between the present and the past, especially as the entire storyline became obvious less than halfway through. The ending was awful and twee. Norton can write, but judging by this, he can't plot.

globber's review against another edition

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3.0

More of a thriller than a whodunnit. The story is better constructed than his first, but there's less of a sense of place and fewer laugh lines. The ending is a bit of a non-event, as well.

ali_w15's review

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3.0

Didn’t enjoy this as much as his other books. Parts of it felt very outlandish and totally unbelievable. The whole thing felt very depressing too. Easy to read and enjoyed the setting but that’s about it.

neudorfl's review

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2.0

2.5

Unfortunately, the whole time I was reading it I was asking "haven't I read this before?". Nothing too new or surprising in the ploy. I found myself skimming a lot toward the end just to say I'd finished it.

qu33nofbookz's review

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3.0

This was a solid 4 stars until the last few chapters which had me very annoyed. A richly told story. Sadly there is zero charter growth, although the characters are interesting.

Elizabeth has returned home to Ireland to sort out the house she grew up in after her mother dies. She hopes to get in and out without seeing her relatives since she doesn't particularly like them and has outgrown the town and country she grew up in. But when she finds some hidden letters in her mother's closet she begins to unravel a family secret decades old. As she begins to dig up clues to her and her mother's past she discovers some unsettling roots. She soon inherits a second house and goes on a road trip to find out just who her mother was and by extension who she is. While this is going on she gets life-changing news from her son

Spoiler

her 17-year-old has been sleeping with his math tutor who is 32 and gotten her pregnant and blames it all on her divorce from her gay serial affair having husband who deserted them after his secret came out. The situation between him and his tutor was not handled well at all. She bearly skirts the age of consent by a month or two, but considering how long she has been tutoring she lusted after a kid. She does not get reported for her conduct. The son is a complete brat.

that in some ways relates to her past.

In the past we see Patricia, Elizabeth's mother try to break out of the runt she has been in for years after her mother passes away. She decides it's time to find a husband. But her plans don't go well and her life is changed forever.

Spoiler

She begins writing to Edward who answers her lonely heart's ad. They have a few disastrous dates only to discover that his mother who is bat shit crazy has been writing the letters and they keep her captive in the hopes she will eventually fall into Stockholm syndrome, love Edward, and take care of the house and his baby girl from his deceased wife.