BOOK CLUB: Vertigo

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Vertigo by Karen Herbert is a compelling crime mystery story that highlights social and political issues. It uses twists and turns and conspiracies to keep you engaged right until the surprise ending.

Frances Geller is a public servant in Western Australia. She is a forensic accountant with a social conscience. She suffers from vertigo, and although it makes her life difficult she shows great resilience in not allowing it to impact her work or social life.

Her immediate boss and friend, Eric Stynes, vanishes without a trace. His body is never found.

Since Eric’s disappearance, Frances has been promoted from a level five analyst to a level seven project manager taking over the housing and justice portfolios Eric used to manage. She writes project plans, checks maintenance logs, and court security contracts. Then, she informs the public of missteps and misappropriations made by public servants in their expenditure of taxpayer’s money. She loves her job.

One year later the files Eric was working on at the time of his disappearance are discovered.

The files are given to Frances to review. Frances believes Eric had uncovered massive corruption and someone in power had him killed to silence him.

She’s also been investigating a homelessness program that is one step away from privatisation. She suspects in the push to meet budget and timelines shoddy work is being overlooked.

Are Eric’s case and her current case somehow linked? Who profits? What is being hidden? How far up does the corruption go?

As Frances delves into the cases and joins the dots she finds that she has put herself in danger.

The story is narrated by Frances. The writing style as she shares her thoughts and relates events is easy to follow. Eric’s last movements are scattered throughout the story as are facts surrounding Frances’ brother which keep you intrigued.

Her work colleagues are wonderful, relatable characters which adds to the appeal.

Karen Herbert has drawn on her own experiences in regard to the details of the government departments and the life of a vertigo sufferer. This makes the book realistic.

The suspenseful plot keeps you quickly turning the pages. Lovers of crime and mystery will enjoy this excellent book.

A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Vertigo by Karen Herbert. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.

3 thoughts on “BOOK CLUB: Vertigo

  1. Thank you Beauty and Lace for the offer to review Vertigo by Karen Herbert.

    The main character is Frances Geller an investigative accountant. Frances has a lot happening in her life at that time with the death of her brother and the disappearance of her work mate Eric. Frances gets to review Eric’s work file that he was last working on. She thinks she can find some answers to Eric’s vanishing. While reading his files she learns more than she expected. Corruption in Government departments. She must be shrewd as not to arouse suspicion of what she has found out. Frances also suffers from Meuniere’s Disease which makes her stressed and have anxiety, There are many twists and turns and I like that it is set in Perth, Western Australia.

    It took me a while to get into this book but did enjoy reading it and always love reading a book set in Australia.

  2. I loved this book, I spent a few late nights not being able to put it down. So many twists and turns it will keep you guessing. However, I did find it quite confusing. The twists and who was related and who knew who was too complicated for me. I think I got it in the end.

  3. Thank you for the opportunity to read Vertigo. I found the story to be familiar whilst also outside of my experiences making it a very interesting read.

    Working in the WA public sector, I found the settings of the story, both location and office related, so easy to understand it could have been written by a colleague.

    Whilst there was familiarity, I found the number of characters central to the story as well as the plot a little hard to keep track of and had to keep checking back to make sure I was following. Had I not had my personal background I feel that I may have gotten totally lost in the detail.

    What I really loved about the story was the lived Meniere’s experience shared with the reader. I’m in awe of the author’s ability to accomplish so much with this complex condition.

    This was an interesting read, more so for its familiarity, and I’d be interested in reading more by Karen Herbert.

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