Things Unseen

Emma’s quietly unsatisfying suburban life is thrown into disarray when she finds her mother beaten to death, her knickers around her ankles, in the mansion Emma shares with her husband in Westcliff.

Police believe it’s an open-and-shut case and peg the crime on Surprise, the immigrant gardener. But Emma is convinced they are wrong.

The men in Emma’s life try to stop her asking questions: Rick, her philandering gynaecologist husband; Ross, her errant and immature brother returned from Australia; and Craig, an ex-lover visiting from the UK who stirs long-buried feelings in her.

Emma’s search for the truth reveals trust to be a fragile and elusive thing.

“Things Unseen is a fast-paced, haunting thriller which addresses our most intimate fears of invasions and violations in the context of present-day crime realities of the country, but also free of the socio-political context. What Emma and her family members experience could happen to anyone anywhere in the world. The challenges of the betrayals and losses she faces in her marriage will be known to many women, independent of race and class. The madness of grief and the inability to make sane choices when you are in its grips are part of the story. And Johannesburg, with all its social woes, is very much a character in the novel.” Karina Szczurek

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