[usr 5]
Joanna Jenkins’ book is a fabulous page turner about the ruthlessness and misogyny in the higher echelons of a major law firm , with a definite contemporary feel.
What a debut novel! There is a prologue and it is divided into forty seven chapters. It is set mostly in Brisbane, a city Jenkins herself has lived in.
Th charming, at times, at times, slimy , manipulative Gavin Jones is an all powerful client at the leading law firm of Howard Greene, who almost everyone detests . When he dies suddenly, it becomes a search to unravel who, how and why.
He was Howard Greene’s most important client and knew it, and exerted that power with double -dealing disdain. Yet the partners of Howard Greene depended upon him to finance their posh lifestyles – if obsequious agreement with him was what was required to get a job from him, that’s what he got, However we also learn that Jones saved his most atrocious and unacceptable behaviour for women , both privately and at work.
Readers follow the bargaining, ambition and moral crumbling and the hidden inconsistencies of the Howard Greene firm and follow the ghastly corporate life of damaging performance appraisals, oppressive conferences and stuffy, monotonous meetings. We also learn of the (significant but figurative) perfidy, illicit drugs and possible hidden poison, min plain sight, and an agitated quest for evidence in a hidden. murky, isolated place … and there are other elements included too along with ‘red herrings‘. . The stress everyone is under drives the plot forward.
We also get to know the other characters involved in the story for example Anne’s brother Charlie, who flies back from America, and other workmates at Howard Greene, as well as Gavin’s imposing mother Moira, and the police who investigate Gavin’s death.
A terrifically written novel about vengeance, dominance and politics in a major law firm. I am anxiously looking forward to Jenkin’s next book.
https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Joanna-Jenkins-How-to-Kill-a-Client-9781761066832/
Format
392 pages, Paperback
Published January 31, 2023 by Allen & Unwin
ISBN
9781761066832
Language
English
