Cross Her Heart

July 23, 2018
Plot twists take precedence over psychological depth in this uninspired thriller from British author Pinborough (Behind Her Eyes). Single mother Lisa Buckridge, who works for a small recruiting company and lives in fear of someone from her past, devotes herself to her 16-year-old daughter, Ava. In turn, Ava feels smothered by her mother’s monitoring of her life and keeps from Lisa both her decision to lose her virginity to a casual boyfriend—and her obsession with a man she’s only communicated with online. The dark history that Lisa was covering up ends up exposed after Ava, a gifted swimmer, rescues a toddler who fell into a river at a fair in Elleston, England. In her relief at Ava’s safety, Lisa forgets to shield her face from a newspaper photographer, and the published picture leads to a revelation that shatters her connection with Ava. By pulling more than one plot punch, Pinborough weakens the impact of a story line that lacks the originality of her best work, the Thomas Bond novels. Agent: Veronique Baxter, David Higham Associates (U.K.).