Book Review - The Trap - Catherine Ryan Howard
In ‘The Trap’ by Catherine Ryan Howard, Lucy's sister Nicki walked out of a pub in Dublin a year previously and hasn't been seen since. She's one of three women in the area to have gone missing, and now Lucy will do absolutely anything to find her. But just how far will she go?
The Nothing Man
The first chapter expertly hooks you, with a fairy breathless beginning. Immediately you know this is a book you're going to be hurtling through in a short space of time. I had previously read 'The nothing man' so I knew Ryan Howard could deliver an addictive mystery thriller.
To begin with, I did like the serial killer addressing the reader as he relieved the abductions. I'm still not sure as to his motives, but after reading the exceptional 'Notes on an execution' recently, I didn't really care. The scenes were he was on the couch with his wife allowed him to comment on peoples fascination with true crime, the generation that is 'so obsessed with true crime that you listen to all those grisly podcasts while you're putting on your make-up and doing your hair'.
The relationship between Garda Denise and Angela, a pen pusher in the missing persons unit, was interesting enough, more so than the character of Lucy, who was a bit annoying and a little naive. I found it hard to make a connection with the characters to be honest. I thought some of the supporting cast, such as the victim's boyfriend, were fairly one-dimensional. Listen, it's a pacey crime thriller and it's all about getting the reader to turn the page; I appreciate the genre. I'm not expecting layered characterisation.
The Vanishing Triangle
I was only a few chapters into ‘The trap’ when I immediately thought of 'The Vanishing triangle', as the story is set in the same geographical area. In the afterword, Catherine Ryan Howard mentions the eight women, aged between 17 to 39, who disappeared around Leinster and the Wicklow mountains and have never been seen again. The author makes it clear the book is not about those particular cases, but 'she was certainly thinking about those women when she wrote it'.
There is a bit on why some missing women draw the public attention more than others (younger & prettier, more conventional lifestyles, Irish surname) and I read a piece just this very day about a woman called Eve Brennan who vanished thirty years ago and has never been seen since. She disappeared just four months after Annie McCarrick, one of the 'vanishing triangle' disappeared. Eve suffered from depression and had had a minor argument with her parents, so because suicide was seen as a possibility, a retired detective believed her case didn't get as much attention.
The role that the media plays also features, though this didn't quite ring true either, and felt a bit contrived. I know the author was highlighting the importance of the media, and people's fascination with true crime cases, but it didn't really say anything new to me. I found the 'journalist' a bit annoying which was probably intentional - he seemed to be an amalgam of a couple of different media types.
The Trap Summary
It probably seems I'm being a bit overly critical but I probably had high expectations after 'The Nothing Man' which isn't the author's fault. I did read this over three days, there are plenty of twists to keep you guessing, and the ending caught me completely unaware, so it's certainly clever enough. I can see how the nature of the ending might annoy people, but I was happy enough with it.
I think it's a competitive and difficult genre to stand out in, but if you like crime fiction and Catherine Ryan Howard's previous books, you'll know what to expect and will probably lap this up.
Thanks to Netgalley, Random House UK and Transworld UK for the Advanced Reader Copy.
Pub Date 17 Aug 2023