The Tower

Witty, incisive, the rationales are some of the most darkly entertaining parts of the narrative. For whistleblowers-and the people who celebrate them - this is a fantastic, brilliantly written story - of hypocrisy, betrayal, and justice of a kind. A story about people who take pride in their principles and swear to stand up for justice - but when they get the chance to do so, not only do they run and hide but burn the person who raising concerns. This is the situation Liv Seppala finds herself in when she starts to expose what others seek to suppress - literally at any cost. In the halls of academia, in the quangos, in social services and equality units, in the many offices supposedly established to support women and children, The Tower is about what is going on when the pursuit of justice isn’t allowed to get in the way of career advancement. The writing style takes us inside both the machinations and rationalisations of the various interests the players have across organisations. While they all seem to know what’s going on, what the deal is, we are brought into Liv Seppala’s initial perplexity about what is happening around her, as people she thought were aligned with the same mission, start making excuses to back away and back out of previous promises to act and to support - not just Liv, but the people their organisations are funded to support. Their rationales for their actions are some of the most darkly entertaining parts of the narrative. As Liv becomes progressively scapegoated while trying to decipher the machinations around her, there are strands in the story of other relationships that help Liv and us as readers feel others know the score and have lived through their own versions of these intrigues. Their interactions with her don't rescue Liv but let her know there is life outside these world wrecking power grabs. There is Evelyn Faris, the police officer investigating the disappearance of a whistleblower Liv supported. Evelyn is good friends with Yolande Holmes, a retired nurse whom Liv has met through workshops for women and children’s refuges. Yolande and Evelyn have been through something similar twenty years previously. While Liv is in the midst of trying to see what's really going on, Evelyn and Yolande have been there before - and from the glimpses we get into their own lives and their generation, we see that, too. And around it all, is the literal touchstone of the novel's first pages - the Queen of the Night, holder of the rod and ring - justice and authority – and her sister, Inanna, who descended into hell - and came back again.

Brilliant. It's a marvellous story. What a cast of characters. It could and should be a TV or film project. Perfect for an edgy aware filmmaker or production house. Loved Tony the parrot and those blood-red rhododendrons. Would make a good mini-series, too.