Just as Boiling Point lands on BBC television as a series, Sarah Gilmartin produces an equally gripping kitchen-sink drama. This is a combination of a sexual abuse narrative set against the sweaty, sweary heat of a restaurant. Daniel Costello, Michelin starred chef-owner of a Dublin restaurant, is accused of raping a waitress. Hannah, also a waitress at the same place, contributes her part of the story and Julie, the wife has her say too. The trajectory of the novel is presented in a sequence of one person narratives, each character taking up a whole chapter as the court proceedings carry on. It is very much a contemporary novel, the scenes in the restaurant at a Tiger-economic time for Dublin are fictitious, as is the court room drama for all sorts of reasons, but they are nevertheless, all too believable and horrible. Entitlement and power – a heady combination.
deborahjs 