Review
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Title: No Escape
Author: Anna Jones Buttimore
Publisher: Walnut Springs
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Year Published:2012
Number of Pages: 259
Binding: Trade Paperback
ISBN10: n/a
ISBN13: 978-1-59992-804-3
Price: $16.99

Reviewed by Tristi Pinkston for the Association for Mormon Letters

Michael Boyd is a widower, seeking a change of scenery in the hopes that the memories will be less painful. When he comes to Wales to work for six months in his occupation as a police officer, he finds the countryside charming and the language impossible. What he doesn't find, however, is relief from the pain of his wife's death. The grief follows him overseas.

When he meets Catrin Pritchard, a beautiful young woman who wants to turn her brother in for drug dealing, he finds himself completely thrown for a loop. She's different from anyone he's ever met. She's reserved, she holds her emotions in, she rarely smiles - and he's drawn to her immediately. It doesn't hurt that she has an adorable daughter to boot.

Someone isn't happy with Catrin for turning in her brother and they attack her cat, leaving it for dead in front of the house. Michael wants to get to the bottom of the case, and feeling that Catrin is in further danger, he takes on the role of bodyguard, sleeping on her living room couch until the threat is averted. As he comes to know Catrin better, he realizes that she is the cure for the heartache he has been suffering, and maybe his short time in Wales won't be so short after all.

Anna Jones Buttimore lived in Wales for seventeen years and now lives in England, so her ability to place the reader in the scene is right on. She knows what she's talking about, from the language to the customs to the landscape, and it makes for a truly unique read. I have a lot of Welsh in my ancestry and I was immediately drawn into Anna's first books, set in a bed-and-breakfast in Wales, and was equally interested in this book. It's written using the British spelling (i.e. "favourite" and "realise" instead of "favorite" and "realize") which, to me, helps create the tone for the story. Readers who are more accustomed to American books might find the pace a bit different - British books of this nature do use more description and are perhaps slower to get started, but that is a style that is very indicative of the different countries' cultures and literary expectations.

There were a few things that didn't quite resonate with me. I wanted more from Michael's point of view as he makes the decision to guard Catrin personally. We see that from her perspective, and I felt a lack in knowing his thoughts and feelings about that choice. In addition, I didn't feel that the attack on her cat was sufficient to justify police protection of that nature. Just little things like that here and there stood out to me.

All in all, I found "No Escape" a captivating read and I recommend it, especially if you would enjoy a book with the rich flavor of another place and a different pace of life.