Sarah Hughes. Wife, mother, secret gambler.
Her life is one of stability and security. Settled in Cheltenham, married for over twenty years, lovely children... but her inner trauma of losing a child in a car accident in which she was driving is reopened when her husband accepts a full-time posting to a military camp in Germany. Upon arriving in Germany, her underlying depression returns and she starts gambling online. The isolated posting and pressures of army life exacerbates her struggle and exposes the frailties of her marriage.
The stakes rise as her gambling escalates and she starts to realise her husband is not all she believed...
Red/ Black is a carefully constructed story that deals with very modern themes of mental health and gambling.
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Sara sat at the roulette table, anxiously rotating a chip through her fingers. CHAPTER 1
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(@matadorbooks, 11 August 2020, 349 pages, ebook, copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 2 December via @RandomTTours)
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I didn't enjoy this book as much as I expected. The blurb makes it sound like a pretty decent thriller. It starts off well, with Sarah in the grip of a gambling addiction and I was looking forward to reading the book. The real issue is that the crux of the book, how Sarah becomes a gambling addict and the consequences don't take place until more than halfway through the book. There is a lot of background and scene setting and not all of it was necessary. I felt Sarah's problems with gambling and depression occurred too late in the book and things were rushed. I wanted to spend more time on this aspect. I did enjoy the book. Sarah is a great character and I really felt for her. I liked the way the author tackles quite dark subjects such as depression, miscarriage and gambling.
