"Why Didn't You Come for Me?"

Diane Janes is a full time author, who lives and writes in the English Lake District. Prior to be accepted for publication she was shortlisted twice for the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger and her first novel The Pull of the Moon was a finalist for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger in 2010.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her latest novel, Why Didn't You Come for Me?, and reported the following:

On page 69 of Why Didn’t You Come for Me? Jo is reflecting on her life in the aftermath of her daughter’s kidnap:

She and Dominic had achieved a horrible form of celebrity, which drew false friends like wasps to a jam pot. People they had hardly known before it happened now appeared in the newspapers, talking about them, making things up.

We learn a lot about Jo here and begin to understand her deep aversion to any kind of publicity. We can see the multiple ways in which what happened to her daughter have distorted her life. Yet later in the book, we will perhaps recall Jo’s page 69 recollections again and question them, because this is a book which ultimately asks questions about the reliability of an individual’s memories and perceptions of past events.

Perhaps page 69 also invites the reader to confront the issue of the public’s intrusive and often damaging interest in the lives of those who have been the victims of a crime:

…would be hangers-on, people who wanted to be your ‘friend’, just so that they could satisfy their curiosity… so that they could tell their friends all about you, what they had made of you and how it affected their take on the case.

When I write a novel, I like to think that it offers some real issues to consider as well as a story to be told, and I think page 69 satisfies that test. Would it tempt anyone to read more? I hope so.

Learn more about the book and author at Diane Janes's website.

Visit the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue