home > mystery novel reviews > reflections

Reflections

by Jo Bannister

Reflections is an aptly titled work, with a story built around both inner and outer mirrors, delving into the psychological aspects of the mind as well as physical reflections seen in the activities of those around us - plus actual reflected images. Jo Bannister writes a compelling and unusual tale. Since I haven't read any of her other novels as yet, I have no idea whether or not Ms. Bannister does the same thing with her other plots, but I was able to guess correctly concerning identity of the possible perpetrator in the first third of the book. This doesn't take away from Jo Bannister's fine writing or the story, however!

Brodie Farrell is a female detective who specializes in finding the unusual for her clients – usually things and almost never people. But Superintendent Jack Deacon has recommended her to find a relative for two girls, Juanita (Johnny), age fourteen, and Emerald (Em), age eleven. Their parents are gone – the mother murdered and the father, suspected of the crime, is missing. The girls are alone, and the relative is an aunt, sister of the murdered woman. Jack thinks that rather than being placed in 'care,' perhaps the aunt would take charge of them until arrangements can be concluded for them to live with their uncle Hugo and his wife in another country. The aunt hasn't been heard from for fifteen years.

Brodie reluctantly accepts the job from Hugo Daws, who has flown up from South Africa with his black wife Peris. Hugo is the husband's brother, and insists that Robert would never willingly commit a murder, even though Robert's wife obviously deserved it. It seems the girls' mother was constantly flirting and flaunting frequent love affairs right under their father's nose, then using her artistic skills to paint her lovers in the nude. Her latest was a young nineteen-year-old boy named Nicky Speers. Nicky works on a farm close by.

When Hugo mentions that the girls should also have a tutor to keep them busy and take their minds off the murder, Brodie refers him to her friend Daniel Hood. Daniel is the survivor of an equally horrific situation, so in addition to being an excellent teacher, he would be sympathetic to the girls' double loss. Hugo is anxious to return to his business on the black continent, but he'll leave Peris behind until the other aunt can be found and officially both girls can come live with them in Africa. Daniel takes the job, but only after the two girls agree he should be their teacher.

Johnny and Em are waiting for their father to return, meanwhile laying all the blame on Nicky. Then when Brodie finds the aunt, the aunt proves incapable of taking care of the two girls even briefly. Suddenly wakened from a sound sleep by Johnny's screams, Daniel finds the two girls at the bottom of the staircase, and Em claims Nicky was in their house in the middle of the night. Nicky is taken in for questioning by the police. But later, when Daniel tells the two girls that the police suspect their father Robert of murdering their mother, Johnny flies into a rage.

Nicky is almost killed in a motorcycle accident, and when he's conscious and able to talk, he tells Brodie that he met a car head-on around a bend in the road, which followed him when he swerved, finally crashing his motorcycle into a stone wall.

Then Brodie and Daniel find themselves prisoners in the attic while the house below them is set afire by the killer. They escape only by crawling out on the roof, and are rescued by the same neighboring farmer who hired Nicky Speers. The eventual conclusion, featuring Peris as a hostage on the edge of a bridge ten meters above roaring traffic is Jo Bannister at her best, with heart-stopping suspense. The novel ends with Brodie accusing Daniel – rather unjustly – of causing double deaths.

Jo Bannister has written a story that will appeal to all – both the sympathizers and advocates of deprived children along
with those who understand the needs of a female teetering between child and woman. In addition, you'll love the insights on parents and all the other adult reactions between Brodie, Jack Deacon, Daniel and Peris. Reflections can be easily recommended for listing among the most entertaining mysteries in book form.

Alan Paul Curtis

back