Blurb
Single-mum Roz compares herself to everyone else, from her sister to friends to people on social media, and feels she’s missing out. She wants what they’ve got – a husband, a father for her daughter, and respect.
When she meets Daniel, Roz thinks her dreams are possible, until he dies suddenly and tragically. Devastated by grief and loneliness, she rushes headlong into a relationship with Mark, a widower she meets in an online support group.
Yet as Mark’s behavior becomes more controlling and manipulative, Roz realizes he isn’t the man of her dreams. He is hiding a jaw-dropping secret that spells danger for Roz and her daughter…
My review
Roz is waiting for new boyfriend, Daniel, to pick her up for their dinner date when her phone rings from his number, it is Daniel’s friend, Luke, to say Daniel has died from an aneurism.
Roz drags herself through the weeks that follow, pleased at the recognition and kindness she receives at the funeral. In her personal life though, very few people close to her know about the three-month relationship she has shared with Daniel and their short relationship, which is dismissed by her unfeeling mother and busy, successful sister.
Her daughter Chloe is a bright spot in each day but Roz seeks something more – a chance to open up and gain sympathy from people she can relate to. She finds a website which won’t allow her to see its content without signing up and once she has joined, she finds the empathy she has been craving.
The group is moderated by Mark, an anaesthetist at the local hospital whose wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. He gets in touch with Roz after some of the other members question her right to be part of the group when she lets slip that her relationship with Daniel was only a few months old when he died. In his early messages to her he suggests they meet up and while he is not her type, Roz is lonely and gets drawn into a relationship.
From the outset, Mark drops small digs and humiliations into their conversations and continually lets Roz down. She breaks off the relationship twice, once after her birthday and then when he has piled on the guilt on days when she has made other plans. Alongside this, he appears to be receiving hate mail from someone who works at the hospital. From this hate mail, it looks as if Mark is married with children and that he flirts with the women he works with. This suggests that Mark’s story to Roz and the group is a sham. What could he be trying to achieve and will Roz just end up feeling lonelier and more worthless or will this test her mettle and make her stronger? Or is there something more sinister going on?
In her own eyes at least, Roz is the black sheep in her family and in her friendship group. Her daughter, Chloe, was conceived while travelling after university and to a man who doesn’t know he has got a daughter. Roz believes she is stuck in a rut at work and has only been in the same job for ten years because it fits in with her childcare needs. It has become a role she hates, not least because her family and friends are hugely successful, a point that is continually hammered home by her cold, distant mother. From this perspective, it is a little hard to read Roz’ character because – as this new relationship develops – she is colourlessly painted in every aspect of her life. Additionally, despite appearing to seethe at the way she is treated, she doesn’t confront anyone or open up to colleagues who might become friends if she allowed them closer.
The story is incredibly engaging and it is impossible to second-guess the outcome at any point. I have raced through The Thief of Joy, the build-up is compelling and the book is unputdownable. It is an incredibly well thought out and carefully plotted story with lots of twists that will keep you guessing, shock and surprise you.
About the author
Born and bred in Glasgow, Scotland, Stacey Murray was an international commercial lawyer in the City of London for many years. In 2005, she changed career to become an independent film producer, going on to develop and produce two feature films, A Boy Called Dad (sold to BBC Television and nominated for the prestigious Michael Powell Award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival ), and Best Laid Plans (a northern English reworking of Of Mice and Men, sold to Netflix). She has a Masters in Media Studies from Sheffield Hallam University, where she has lectured in the subject. She has recently returned to her first love-writing – and The Curious Case of Maggie Macbeth was her first novel and was published through RedDoor Press. The Thief of Joy is published by Hobeck Books Ltd.
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