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The High Flyer
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The High Flyer by
Susan Howatch

Little, Brown
584 pages 1999
ISBN 0316851779

Reviewed by our South African Editor Merilyn Tomkins
adams.west@saol.com - Adams Bookshop, Durban, SA


After her bestselling novel A Question of Integrity, Susan Howatch continues her exploration of the challenges and dangers of contemporary life with this compulsively readable thriller set in 1990s London.

Cool blonde Carter Graham is a successful lawyer who believes she is well on the way to achieving everything she has ever wanted: a first-class job, a beautiful flat overlooking the City of London and marriage to the man of her dreams, Kim Betz. Everything seems in perfect order. But Carter forgot, when drawing up her dazzling plan for personal fulfilment, that some dreams turn out to be nightmares.

Kim's ex-wife Sophie starts to stalk Carter. Kim lies not only about his past but also about his present, and Carter finds herself drawn into an expanding web of deceit, corruption and evil which eventually threatens not only her sanity but her life. What is it that Sophie is trying so hard to tell her? Just who is the sinister Mrs. Mayfield, the psychic who has such a malign influence over Kim, the man who seemed to have such self-control?

What of the other new man in Carter's life, her temporary secretary Eric Tucker? Carter, in desperation, seeks help from the healers of St. Benet's. Even they cannot save her from a terrifying ordeal as she struggles to uncover the truth about the tormented man she has married. In a frightening encounter in Carter's flat, Eric is seriously injured and is nursed in intensive care. It takes Carter a long time to face up to reality, and to finally achieve healing.

The High Flyer is the work of a mesmerising story-teller.


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