The Beaten Track
Louise Mangos
It follows the tale of Sandrine, a young woman returning from a backpacking holiday around the world. The trip was a dream for her, yet it turned dark when she picked up a stalker, who eventually killed himself.
Things go from bad to worse when she is jilted by her holiday lover, before finding out she is pregnant. Eventually, she is forced to return home to Switzerland, penniless, pregnant and heartbroken.
Things finally seem to be going her way when she meets Scott. Handsome, wealthy and willing to take care of her and her baby, he seems like a dream come true. But her nightmare is only starting.
It’s an old cliche, but writers are often advised to ‘write what they know’, and this is a case study in when that advice really works. Mangos travelled extensively when she was younger, and is currently living in Switzerland. This lends the book a descriptive authenticity that really lifts it.
Cleverly, Mangos sets the book in the late 1980s. Not only does this allow her to confidently use her own experiences and memories, it frees her from some of the constraints of telling a story set in today’s connected world. With near universal mobile phone coverage in even the remotest parts of the world, and modern forensics available to the smallest of police forces, it would be difficult to keep the suspense if the book were set in the 21st century. In the hands of another author, this might feel contrived, but because Mangos is writing in part about her own, vividly remembered, experiences it works really well, and it feels natural and authentic.
A story such as this is crafted to keep the reader guessing. It’s cleverly ambiguous in parts without ever feeling that the writer is being evasive. I made numerous predictions, some of which were right, others which were way off the mark. Because of that, I was eager to reach the end and be rewarded with the complete explanation.
I heartily recommend this book.
