The Frank Business

About the Book

After Frank drops down dead in Heathrow Arrivals on Christmas Eve, his estranged daughter Jem is called in to identify the body. When Jem travels back to Frank’s house in France – a house she hasn’t been in since she was a child – she realises that Frank had a son too.

Frank has died of a congenital heart defect, a defect he may have passed on to his daughter – or on to his son. Jem must warn her brother, but in finding herself a family she risks ripping another apart.

Shrewd, witty and poignant, The Frank Business is a vivid tale of love and other battlefields.

What I thought

This was a bit of an odd book.  Difficult to fit it into any particular genre.  Odd because none of the characters were your normal run of the mill people.  Nevertheless I really enjoyed it.  It’s a compelling read, well I thought so, it certainly kept me interested.  Yet I’m really struggling with what to say.  That’s annoying because I really wanted to do this book justice.

It’s a story of family, a story of betrayal, of insecurity and hurt.  It’s what happens when secrets are kept, when lies are told and when parenting skills fall far short of what they should be.

I enjoyed all the characters in the book.  Some weren’t that likeable, but this made the book all the more interesting when you’d read and think ‘I can’t believe you just said that’ while shaking your head in disbelief.  That makes the book come to life in my opinion.

With the exception of Jem and Lauren – Sonny’s sister, most of the characters in the book were quite self absorbed people with their selfishness often being a source of hurt for each other.  Frank definitely wasn’t likeable being the deeply insecure, manipulative, somewhat obsessive man that he was.  A bully, controlling, cold and callous yet it’s his influence and existence that has created the situations all the other characters find themselves in.  His actions ripple outward leaving sometimes devastating consequences for those around him.  One reviewer describes it as a gentle story with no violence.  I do beg to differ on that opinion.  Frank’s behaviour and attitude did verge on misogyny on more than one occasion with an often volatile disposition, especially under the influence of alcohol.  Although the opening of the book is at the point just before Frank dies, it does go back in time where we learn the background in to how certain characters have evolved through to the present and how their contact with Frank has affected them.

I would say it’s a story of family dynamics, it is well written, absorbing and well worth a read.  It was a little too neatly sewn up at the end perhaps and for such a selfish bunch of people they were incredibly forgiving but then maybe their forgiveness was in the name of self preservation rather than understanding. Read it and see what you think!

♥ Happy Reading ♥

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The book is due out on Amazon Kindle on 7 March 2019.

With thanks to the publishers John Murray Press via Netgalley for this ARC