In Her Defense by Philippa Malicka (2026)
I'll say this much for 'In Her Defense' the storyline and characterizations were compelling enough to thoroughly hook me and keep me reading to the end. But by the time I'd finished, I couldn't help wondering if it was worth the effort.
There's not a likable, relatable, sympathetic characters anywhere in sight here, although I get sense we're encouraged to feel for the the principal lead,, Augusta 'Gus' Bird, a struggling young artist trying to eke out a living and a hopefully fulfilling career as a creative ceramicist. She's attached herself, as a dog walker/assistant to beloved, famous and wealthy TV personality Anna Finbow. Anna's currently engaged in an explosive and bitter legal battle with controversial therapist Jean Guest. The enraged, heartbroken superstar has accused Jean of a cult-like brainwashing 0f her art student daughter Mary, alienating Mary from her own family..
As the book lumbers along into past events, we see that Gus, while studying her craft in Rome, shared separate emotionally turbulent, relationships with Jean and Mary (whom Gus became infatuated with). Jean offers the needy Gus counseling at little or not cost while using her to ensnare Mary as yet another Nepo Baby client to enhance Jean's fame, patient list and bank account.
.
The tedious Rome sequences seem to drag on forever but the book comes alive whenever it returns to unfold the riveting civil libel case between Jean and Anna, with the distraught Gus caught between the opposing forces, trying to rekindle her estranged friendship with a now incommunicado Mary. And smack in the middle of all this mess sits Jean Guest whose seemingly caring, heartfelt nature masks a predatory spider who caught everyone in her web, one way or the other.
The book frustrated me as a reader, offering the promise of a satisfying conclusion without actually delivering one. All the issues raised here are indeed attention grabbling.......the tortured frayed bonds between children and their dysfunctional families, and the gaping chasm between those with little money and those with too much of it....(Gus's pursuit 0f the carefree Mary and her entry into the jet-setting world of Mary and Anna Finbow gave off faint echoes of 'The Talented Mr Ripley').
Much more of a straight drama than anything else, so I wouldn't recommend this as any kind of a psychological thriller. but simply one very serious story. that came out as merely okay for me.
The tedious Rome sequences seem to drag on forever but the book comes alive whenever it returns to unfold the riveting civil libel case between Jean and Anna, with the distraught Gus caught between the opposing forces, trying to rekindle her estranged friendship with a now incommunicado Mary. And smack in the middle of all this mess sits Jean Guest whose seemingly caring, heartfelt nature masks a predatory spider who caught everyone in her web, one way or the other.
The book frustrated me as a reader, offering the promise of a satisfying conclusion without actually delivering one. All the issues raised here are indeed attention grabbling.......the tortured frayed bonds between children and their dysfunctional families, and the gaping chasm between those with little money and those with too much of it....(Gus's pursuit 0f the carefree Mary and her entry into the jet-setting world of Mary and Anna Finbow gave off faint echoes of 'The Talented Mr Ripley').
Much more of a straight drama than anything else, so I wouldn't recommend this as any kind of a psychological thriller. but simply one very serious story. that came out as merely okay for me.
3 stars (***).
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