Chez Maximka: One Down by Diana Wilkinson

Thursday 19 January 2023

One Down by Diana Wilkinson

"I'm already shaking with the real or imagined threat. But these three clues are different. They're warnings. They conjure up my worst nightmares. I may be paranoid, but the threats feel real, and combined with the earlier clues, it all becomes too much".

One Down by Diana Wilkinson is a psychological thriller with a linguistic twist.

Blurb:

I'm not being paranoid! It's all there in the crossword clues... in black and white. There's no doubt the threat is real. Today, the answers spell out my murder.

May Third. Amanda. Silver Birch. Noontime. Assassination.

Is Nathan, my estranged crossword-setter husband, really planning to kill me? Or is it someone closer to home?

I check the door is bolted, slither to the ground, and count down the seconds to noon. There's nothing left to do, and no one I can call. who'd believe me anyway? The lady on the ground floor has already left the building, and my new boyfriend is on holiday. Or is he?

A tread of footsteps. A rap at the door, and I close my eyes, hold my breath...

Amanda is an alcoholic, who suffers with panic attacks when she tries to go out. She lives at Silver Birch, a once majestic home, which is now divided into several flats.

Every morning Amanda is glued to a cryptic crossword in the local newspaper. She listens to the sounds from the flats below. Her nearest neighbout, Edward Heath, nicknamed Agaves by Amanda and her ex-husband Nathan, is her lover.

Ever since Nathan has left her, the crossword clues have a sneaky theme weaved through the teasers. The clues are directed at Amanda, each one of them linked to her alcoholism, and her personal life.

"I'm the target of an online stalker, a word-troll maniac, who's been methodically toying with my sanity for six months now, give or take".

Amanda knows her ex is "a smart-arse cruciverbalist", and most likely the linguistic abuse comes from him.

"The list of answers is a story told in shorthand. It's a story for me. A story to give me nightmares. I know it's meant for me because who else could it be for.

Amanda. Silver Birch. Noontime. May third. Sunday. Assassination. Slaughterhouse. Throttle. Death duties. Epitaph".

As the clues become more and more menacing, Amanda is not sure, if more than one crossword-setter is involved in the bullying.

Who can Amanda trust? Is it just her increasing paranoia of imagined warnings, or is the murder threat real?

The premises of the story sounds captivating. The murder is being announced via a series of crossword clues.

Amanda is the most unreliable narrator. She often has no recollection of what's happened the evening before. She is trying to keep sober, goes to the AA meetings and has a sponsor, Joseph, who has access to her flat in case she needs urgent help.

The crossword clues and explanations on how the cryptic crosswords work make this mystery more creative and inventive, but they also slow down the pace of the narrative.

While the stalking via cryptic crosswords sounds intriguing, it also depends on the person doing them regularly. What if Amanda has given up on her hobby in the meantime? People can be obsessed with hobbies and then abandon them only never to return to them. So, all this careful planning could have been for nothing.

If you enjoy cryptic crosswords (or crosswords in general), you will have fun, following the progress of solving each sinister clue. If a wordplay is not your cup of tea, you might find the search for hidden meanings less riveting.

The narrative jumps from the present to the past (the first meeting of Nathan and Amanda three years earlier, the tragedy that happens during the birthday party etc). And all this time you think Amanda is such an objectionable character, she's ego-centric in the extreme. It's hard to feel sympathy for her predicament. She is the kind of person you would try to avoid to socialise with. Amanda is flawed, awkward and unhinged when she starts drinking.

To be fair, it's not just Amanda, it's impossible to relate to any of the characters. Nathan is an intimidating buffoon whose great joys in life are doing cryptic crossword clues and controlling his wife. It's when his wife is at her lowest, that he feels empowered. "He enjoyed the role of carer, minder, saviour of my soul. It was like a hobby, one he embraced with vigour". Nathan belives himself to be brilliant, a genius of the crossword world.

Then there's a revolting editor Hunter, and loathsome Joseph, and manipulative Bagheera. The list goes on.

There is probably one exception - elderly Mr Beckles, a widower who lives on his own with his cat in the house next door.

Potential triggers: alcoholism problems, voyerism, rape, death of a child, murder, abuse of power over the vulnerable adults.

One Down is a slow-paced twisty tale of addictions and revenge, tense and incisive. A gripping psychological thriller. This is a convincing portrayal of an out-of-control obsession.

This review is part of the blog tour for One Down.

Many thanks to Diana Wilkinson, Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for my e-copy of the book!

Chez Maximka, thriller based on crossword

Purchase Link - https://amzn.to/3DoDE45

Author Bio –

Diana Wilkinson is a graduate of Durham University, spending a short spell in teaching before taking up a full-time career in tennis development. A former Irish international player, she finally stepped off the tennis court to become a full-time writer.