JOURNALIST and single mother Robin Ballantyne sees a woman who lives in her street falling from a top storey window to her death below.
So begins Falling Off Air, a novel by former BBC journalist Catherine Sampson. Robin starts to discover that there are some distinctly odd things afoot. The dead woman is a well-known politician called Paula Carmichael, who has written all about Robin in her diary, despite the two having barely exchanged words.
Then there's the fact that Robin seems to be the primary suspect in a second violent death.
Sampson's vivid, taut writing betrays her journalistic origins as she explores the murky world of news ethics. The compelling plot rattles along, with some brilliant twists and a gripping climactic scene.
Heroine Robin Ballantyne, we learn from a foreword, is to return in a future novel. I can't wait.
Updated: 10:11 Wednesday, August 25, 2004
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