Playdate Paperback – International Edition, 4 Jan. 2012

The Playdate is (unbelievably) Louise Millar's first novel. The writing is stylish and confident and the story is riveting and suspenseful without being ridiculously overblown. Those readers expecting their suspense to have blood and guts will be disappointed, but those who like books such as Notes on a Scandal will love this. There's a real sense of danger and a great feeling of time and place. You feel like you really know the area by the end of it - and become immersed in the lives of the three protagonists.Each chapter is from the point of view of one of the three main female characters, so you get different perspectives on events. They don't fit into the stereotypes you would imagine - the stay at home single mother Callie was actually a successful sound designer, and the scenes when she goes back to work offer a really interesting insight in to a job I knew nothing about. Suzy is a trophy wife, but she's harbouring a horrid secret from her past which is slowly revealed to devastating effect. Debs is a bag of nerves - and it takes quite a while for the writer to reveal why - again to great effect.As each chapter is quite short there is never any sense of the pace dragging. The reader never becomes either bored or confused - which could easily happen when juggling different points of view. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading Louise Millar's next novel.

This novel was recommended to me a long while back but it sat on my wishlist for a long time before I bought it when it was on offer in the kindle store. Even then it was on my kindle for a good few months before I got around to reading it.At first I wasn't sure that I would like it but it quickly drew me in.Unlike many other reviewers I really liked the short chapters with their changing perspectives . For me this device moved the story on at a good fast pace which gathered momentum as the book moved to its climax.I liked the way that the menace shifted from person to person so that you were never quite certain where the danger lie and even though I worked out who the villain was fairly early on still these seeds of doubt were being sown.I agree with some others that the ending was improbable and the storyline around Debs stretched credulity to its limit. But I still enjoyed it.It's not the best written novel I have tead but it's certainy not the worst although there was one thing that really irritated me. When people screamed or expressed frustration it was all 'Aaargh' and 'Urgh' and these expressions I feel are best left in the Beano. Better to just say 'they screamed ' or 'she groaned' and let the reader imagine the noises for themselves.This aside I liked the way this novel used the dislocation of families and the consequent loss of support networks as its baseline.Far fetched but enjoyable .

Anyone who has had to move away from family and friends, who has had to compromise their professional life for their family, or more painfully the family in order to return to work, will immediately identify with this book.Initially reticent because of the title, which, I worried, might carry possible connotations of another modern chicklit book, I decided to give it a quick read, on the basis of a friend's recommendation. And immediately I was spellbound. No, it wasn't a "quick read"; neither was it a difficult read, but from the beginning the twists and turns of Callie's and Rae's, and even Suzy's fate, were enthralling.Yes, it was a page-turner, and yes it was to some extent a psychological thriller, but for me it was in essence, a commentary on modern life and how we are forced, often very rapidly, into situations where other people are in a position to be able to exert their control over us and our loved ones.The author uses some clever little techniques to get us on board - Rae's physical frailty, Tom's unavailability and the strong desire Callie feels towards returning to work is juxtaposed against those insecurities. Those amongst us who have been lucky enough to become parents could not have failed to strongly identify and empathise with the guilt and the fear and the self-loathing that is bought on by our return to our professional lives, as we beat ourselves over the head with a guilt-stick, knowing we will be leaving our young ones in the care of others. Often unknown others and certainly ones in whom we have not had the opportunity to develop enough trust in.So trust then becomes a central theme. Quickly, we are drawn into analysing how well we would trust each character - Debs, with her mental fragilities and hints of a murky past; Hannah's remote Mother, who Carrie knows nothing about, or Jez, with his apparent ambivalence towards his children and his wife. Suzy seems the only safe bet.Throughout this book, Ms Millar shows a remarkable insight into human nature; take, for example, the first telephone conversation between Carrie and Tom. How keenly it struck a chord when Tom spoke scornfully, as only ex partners can, to point out Callie's fallibilities. She maintains this keen awareness of the subtleties of our relationships and interactions throughout.This IS a book that stays with you, long after you've finished reading it. It makes you question the nature of trust, of relationships generally and of the balances we have to jiggle in our everyday lives. Is it a book that only women will enjoy? Not necessarily - I'd encourage women to present it to and share it with their partners too; if nothing else than to glean an insight into the questions we have to ask ourselves on a daily basis.