Book Review: "Service" by Sarah Gilmartin

Now, I was wading around Prime Day when this book appeared on my radar. I can't remember whether it was on any kind of offer for Kindle but I do remember reading the summary on Amazon and being absolutely compelled by the requirement to read this book. Gastrodramas are new to me and yet, they are a feast for the senses. Intertwining quite polarising dialogue with the intense descriptions of a fine dining atmosphere can make a claustrophobic nightmare before the story even unfolds. A talent that I think the author of this book has shown off well is her ability to maintain the balance between that atmosphere and the urgency in dialogue. The pace, the narrative and the characters are all in sychronisation - flowing together to make this masterful legal thriller.

Split into sections of character narratives, we are introduced to three people. One of these people is the loveable Hannah. Hannah works as a waitress at a restaurant called 'T' known for its fine dining and its ability to cater to the politicians and their social circles. This obvious means it is a place of absolute debauchery and Hannah makes no mistakes here - she does not try to hide it from us. However, she does notice that there is something horribly wrong and as the book starts to unfold, what is horribly wrong will get closer and closer to her whether she likes it or not.

Then we have Daniel. Daniel is the ultimate chef, the man who choses every single morsel that will go on the plate. Of course, it is his restaurant. Daniel is an essentially flawed man with this grandiose idea of himself that even when he is telling us his horrid backstory, his bad attitude and narcissism overshadows. This means that the reader struggles to have any kind of real sympathy for Daniel - which is good since he's going to trial for rape and sexual assault. An interesting thing the author does with the trial has to be seen in the book, I won't tell you about it here but there is something quite compelling about it. You must read it for yourself.

We then have Julie who is Daniel's wife. She is there having to endure all of this whilst trying to make sense of the situation. She has been put through a lot. For example: she has two children with Daniel named Oscar and Kevin and ever since she had them, she has had to give up on her dreams because she believes that one parent must be seen to the children. The children never get to see their father as he is always out. Apart from this, she is finding it harder and harder to love and believe her husband. She is finding him more and more insufferable by the day and yet, the papers are overwhelmingly in his favour. She finds it correctly fishy and yet, she endures. Ultimately, she will have to make a grand decision that will decide the rest of her life.

This biggest advantage of this book is its narrative style. We get three perspectives from three people in three different situations. Julie is obviously horrified, Daniel feels as if he is untouchable and tries to rationalise his assaults as women being a comfort item for men, and then we have Hannah who kind of gets caught up in the middle until she finds it her duty to say something. Hannah's story is the most compelling out of all of them and serves a great lesson in why we should always question the authority of aggressive and arrogant men.

All in all, I found this book to be interesting and different to my usual requestions of fiction and yet, I would more than happily read a book like this again. An enjoyable story of a woman trying to survive, a legal thriller caught in the middle of a Gastrodrama which only serves to teach us about how silence can be violent. The author is able to write in three different voices so well that you could swear it was three different people writing it. I am thoroughly impressed with this book and think you should all give it a go. It is a truly fantastic read.