Robin Morgan-Bentley, Orion

When Alice finds that her husband, Adam, is missing she is thrown into a panic. He has a history of depression and her worst fears are realised when she discovers that he has thrown himself in front of a car. She is distraught as is Ben, a local schoolteacher, who was the driver of the car. Adam is put on life support in the local hospital and it’s here where Alice meets Ben. He arrives with flowers and tries to make some kind of amends. Alice is initially hostile to Ben, and refuses to speak to him. Undeterred, Ben tries again and in doing so strikes up a friendship with her seven-year-old son, Max. It’s a pretty neat set-up from this debut author, but the middle section meanders far too much. There’s a twist – but of course there is – and it’s pretty daft. I could have lived with that if the story hadn’t lost momentum, but I’m afraid this tale ran out of gas when it really should have been flooring it.