Thursday's children, Nicci French

A former classmate of Frieda asks her if she would talk to her daughter. The girl is unhappy and angry and tells Frieda something that reminds her of something similar she went through. Something she never talked about for twenty-three years, but now she knows she has to talk about it.

Frieda goes back to her hometown, to see if she can find out what happened to her. She talks to former classmates and her mother, after not speaking to any of them for twenty-three years. Most of them are wary of her questions and some are even hostile. Not everybody is happy Frieda came back and almost everyone has something to hide.

Thursday’s children is the fourth part in the series about psychotherapist Frieda Klein. We meet old friends again like Inspector Karlson (great man!), Joseph (another great man), Sandy (bit of a whiner) or niece Chloe (bit ditzy), and we meet new people. It is a great way to know more about Frieda’s background, although it is safe to say there is a lot we still do not know.

Frieda tries to be her calm and rational self, somebody who wants to have some distance between herself and other people. Only she is a decent and kind woman and cannot help herself when people need her help, but she also has people around her who help her in return.

The case itself might be a bit far-fetched, but not so much it becomes incredulous. It is well written and well paced. I also like how people and events from the previous books still play their part in this book and probably will in the books to come. I am looking forward to part 5 already!.

I do think Nicci French shot themselves in the foot a little bit when they wanted to do a series with the days of the week. In this case the Thursday is dragged into the story. But that is a small thing in an excellent thriller I enjoyed very much.

Published in 2014