by Paula Daly, Grove Press
The Mistake I Made by Paula Daly
Published by Grove Press
Review
A WOMAN LOOKING FOR A REDEMPTION IN A WORLD WITH SCANDALS, RECONTS AND UNCONFESSABLE SECRETS
Paula Daly returns to the bookstore with a new thriller called “The Mistake I Made”.
The title already tells us our main character, Roz, will be in front of a choice with no return. She is a young woman, divorced and with a nine-year-old son to grow up. Her mother role at this moment in her life is very difficult; she has to move between home, work and many debts.
By now it is a financial collapse; she cannot guarantee a dignified life to her child and is forced to accept a proposal that will change her life forever.
Roz is a young and pleasant woman, she is used to receiving compliments and suffering every kind of approach, but when Scott Elias proposes her to become her lover, Roz understands that her dreams have stalled in a limbo. He continues to repeat that it will be just a simple commercial transaction.
However, will it really be like that?
Meanwhile difficulties continue to accumulate and because of a series of events, Roz has to confront a reality that she has completely taken the upper hand, until she will be forced to make a drastic decision to be able to remove a murky affair with no way out.
A thriller, but not too much. More than anything else, a human story, that could be the story of someone else in a similar situation. It is easy to judge woman who has been forced by circumstances to accept an “alternative” solution because of her problems. Many women have been in the same position, and many others have accepted indecent proposals, girls tell nothing because of shame and others have been forced by violent husbands to accept abuses and violence.
Do we have to condemn all of them?
Sometimes the necessity to meet needs can push anyone to commit a crime, take a wrong step or to fall victim to blackmail: that’s what happened to Roz, even if she’s pervaded by a strange feeling and feels dirty, she gives up for her son’s love.
Scott on the other hand isn’t better than her, a successful man, physically and economically strong, takes advantage of Roz’s weakness and needs. Everyone has had what he wanted, but our desires don’t always bring us where we hope. Scott will turn out to be a corrupt and selfish man and his machinations force Roz to risk everything to give herself a new chance.
Not a very compelling book, but enjoyable. The simple and fluent prose of the writer Paula Daly allows to a quick reading. As a book, it has not remained in my heart, but I have learned some important lessons from it, and that is something only a few people are able to do and transmit to readers.
Editor’s card
Roz is a single mother, a physiotherapist, a sister, and a friend. She’s also desperate. Her business has gone under, she’s crippled by debt, and she’s just had to explain to her son George why someone’s taken all the furniture away. Then she meets Scott Elias – wealthy, powerful, and very married – who makes her an offer: for one night with her, he’ll pay enough to bring her back from the edge. Roz knows it’s time for action – she has two weeks to find a solution, or she and George will be kicked out of their home. As the situation spirals out of her control, she is forced to do things she never thought herself capable of. Will she ever be able to set things right?
The Mistake I Made by Paula Daly , Amazon
Paula Daly
Paula Daly is the author of Just What Kind of Mother Are You?, Keep Your Friends Close, The Mistake I Made, and The Trophy Child. Open Your Eyes is her fifth novel. She lives in North West England.
