Book Review : Don’t Think a Single Thought by Diana Cambridge

The Blurb : 1960s New York, and Emma Bowden seems to have it all – a glamorous Manhattan apartment, a loving husband, and a successful writing career. But while Emma and her husband Jonathan are on vacation at the Hamptons, a child drowns in the sea, and suspicion falls on Emma. As her picture-perfect life spirals out of control, and old wounds resurface, a persistent and monotonous voice in Emma’s head threatens to destroy all that she has worked for… Taut, elegant and mesmerising, Don’t Think a Single Thought lays bare a marriage, and a woman, and examines the decisions – and mistakes – that shape all of our lives.

Diana Cambridge is an award-winning journalist. She has written for many national newspapers and magazines, gives regular writing workshops, and is a Writer-in-Residence at Sherborne, Dorset. She is Agony Aunt to Writing Magazine. She lives in Bath. Don’t Think a Single Thought is her first novel.

Buy it here : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Single-Thought-Diana-Cambridge/dp/199978099X

Review
In Don’t Think a Single Thought, Diana Cambridge serves up a heady Manhattan cocktail of glamour, mystery and intrigue, with a twist of danger on the side.

It’s a character led novel that follows the life of Emma Bowden, who has more than a whiff of Daisy Buchanan about her; beautiful but vain, shallow and utterly self-absorbed, fragile and haunted by the past. I found Emma largely unlikeable yet completely relatable – her depression clinging to her like lint to a dark suit, keeping her mired in a haze of pills and isolation; Emma kept me fascinated from first to last page.

The dark undercurrent to this book – that is, the unexplained deaths of several small children, always in Emma’s orbit – is perfect for the pre-forensics and criminal psychology era in which the book is set. But were all these ‘accidents’ mistakes or murders? The reader must decide.

Don’t Think a Single Thought is a rags-to-riches story, but it’s no fairy tale and don’t expect a happy ending.

I loved this brilliant book : it gets five shiny stars and an unreserved ‘highly recommended’ from me.