Invisible (ebook)

Argumento de Invisible (ebook)

Christine Poulson's protagonist Lisa is in need of an escape from the demands of caring on her own for a son with cerebral palsy and she has found this escape in a lover whose name is Jay. She meets him once a month and loses herself in a realm without responsibility until one day when Jamie does not appear, and Lisa discovers that the relationship is built on a lie. This is splendidly written fare from the reliable Poulson, written with keen psychological insight.

This is a proper nerve-tingler of a suspense novel, which in less than 300 pages does what many bloated thrillers fail to achieve in 500.

?This is my last day.?

Jay didn?t take in what the cab-driver said. He was too busy looking through the back window, trying to decide if he had seen that car before.

The traffic was slowing down, grinding to a halt.

?Yes,? the cab-driver said, ?my last day on the job. Demob happy, that?s me. I?m retiring. Well, I say retiring, me and the missus are opening a bar in Spain. This time next week, I?ll be playing golf in the sun.?

Yes, it was the same car, Jay was sure of it. Oh God. But surely he was safe enough for the moment. They were hardly going to pull him out of a cab going round Piccadilly Circus in broad daylight, unless ?

What if the cab-driver was in on it, too? His eyes went to the man?s licence. Darren Clarke was the name ? and this was a properly licensed black cab. He looked at the man?s solid meaty shoulders and the straw-coloured hair fringing a shiny dome. That ratty jumper ? grey-and-white lozenges with pulled threads ? he couldn?t be anything but a cab driver. Could he? And surely it was pure chance that Jay had stepped into this particular cab. He didn?t see how they could have planned it.

?What?s up, chum?? Darren asked. His eyes met Jay?s in the rear-view mirror. ?You?ve been like a cat on hot bricks ever since I picked you up.?

Maybe it was the rosary dangling from the mirror that decided Jay.

?I think someone?s following me,? he said.

?Oh ho,? Darren said, ?so that?s it. Your girlfriend?s hubby? Some geezer you owe money to??

They had reached the north end of Haymarket. The traffic was inching forward.

Darren laughed. ?Nah, let me guess, if you tell me, you?ll have to kill me!?

He wasn?t so far off the mark.

?So which one is it?? Darren tilted his head to look into the rear-view mirror.

?The dark blue Citroen.?

?That!? he said scornfully. ?A mini-cab ??

?Do you think you can ??

?Lose it? Wouldn?t be much of a cab-driver if I couldn?t! Fasten your seat-belt, you?re in for a bumpy ride!? Darren spun the steering wheel. The cab swerved and shot down the bus-lane, flinging Jay back against his seat with a jolt that took his breath away. The cab swung left into a narrow canyon of a street. Jay gripped the handrail and braced his feet on the floor. They emerged into a little square where people sitting at tables outside a restaurant looked up startled. Ahead the road narrowed to one lane. On one side was the back entrance of the National Gallery, on the other Westminster Reference Library, and in the middle a van was parked, blocking the road. Darren didn?t even brake. The cab tilted as it mounted the pavement. The rosary swung wildly from side to side. Jay wanted to offer up a prayer himself. He resisted the temptation to cover his eyes. They slid past the van and a line of bollards with a hairsbreadth to spare.

They shot round a corner. A queue of taxis was waiting to turn into St Martin?s Lane. The lane for in-coming traffic was empty. Darren swerved into it. The traffic was solid, but Darren nudged his way in. The driver of another black cab budged over just enough to let Darren through. Darren acknowledged the courtesy with an airy gesture. He muscled his way through the second lane, eliciting a V sign from a bus driver, and shot off down William IV Street and into Maiden Lane.

?Have we lost the Citroen?? Darren asked.

Jay craned his neck. ?Yes ? oh, no, no, oh fuck! He?s just come into view!?

?OK!?

Darren took a right turn. The traffic lights were green and in moments they were heading south across the Strand. They took another right and doubled back along John Adam Street.

Darren turned left. To his horror Jay saw that they were heading for a dead end. In that terrible moment he knew that he had been wrong about Darren. Darren was not his saviour, but his abductor. A trap was closing around him. The ground dropped steeply away to an underground car park. They plunged into the darkness like a rabbit going down a hole. This time Jay did close his eyes, expecting the cab to screech to a halt. But it didn?t so much as slacken speed. He opened his eyes to see rows of parked cars sliding past on either side. The cab shot out into daylight. Jay caught a glimpse of grey choppy water. They were on the Embankment. Darren laughed. ?Not many people know about that. I bet that?s foxed the bugger.? The traffic was running freely here and the cab sped along towards Blackfriars. Jay braced himself against the back seat and looked out of the window. The Citroen was nowhere in sight. As the cab went into the underpass beneath Blackfriars Jay allowed himself a sigh of relief.

?It was Waterloo you wanted?? Darren said.

?Doesn?t really matter. I just need to get out of London.?

?Liverpool Street do you??

?Fine.? Jay leaned back. Now that the tension had relaxed, he had to clasp his hands together to stop them trembling. As the cab headed north-east at a more sedate pace, he concentrated on slowing his breathing and planning his next step.

The cab drew up outside Liverpool Street and Jay reached for his wallet.

Darren turned. ?Not on your life ? it?s all on the house today.?

Jay saw him full on for the first time. He had a slab of a face and little piggy eyes, but at that moment Jay loved him like a brother.

Darren said, ?And if you ever find yourself in Malaga, there?ll be a drink on the house.? He fumbled in his jacket pocket and brought out a card.

Jay reached for it, his fingers grasped it, but Darren didn?t release it. He looked expectantly at Jay. Something hopeful and wistful shone out of his face, something even a lifetime of ferrying arrogant city types and drunken hen parties hadn?t quenched.

For a moment Jay was puzzled, and then it dawned on him.

Of course. Darren wanted to know what it was all about. The least he could do for this fine man was to give him a story to take into his new life, something to tell his customers. Jay could see him with his elbows propped on the bar: ?Last day on the job, and who do you think he turned out to be ? no, honest, straight up ??

He cast around, uncertain what to say. Then it came to him. He leaned forward, catching a whiff of a pungent cologne. He put his face close to Darren?s and told Darren what he wanted to hear.

Invisible is a great thriller. I can't say too much more about the plot because the twists & turns are the whole point of reading a book that wrong foots the reader at every turn. I really needed to concentrate, especially in the beginning as many characters are introduced & their relevance only becomes clear as events unfold. In the end, I just put aside an afternoon to finish it because I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. Invisible is more than a conventional thriller though, because we have the domestic, ordinary story of Lisa & Ricky alongside the story of Jay. As a fan of Spooks (I never missed an episode), I also loved the way Jay carried out his plans & Lisa's trip to the British Library - I can't say any more! Christine Poulson kept me reading by giving out just enough information to intrigue & puzzle so that I had to read just one more chapter. That's why, in the end, I just dropped everything else & read the last half of Invisible in one sitting.0