Paradise City - by Elizabeth Day

I was drawn to the cover of this book. I was looking for a light-hearted read, a multi-story read. Luckily for me, I came across Paradise City. Yes it is multi-story, but I wouldn't exactly describe it as light-hearted.

Paradise City is the exploration of four interconnected lives in modern-day London.

We hear from four characters: Howard Pink - self-made millionaire struggling with his daughter's disappearance, Beatrice Kizza - a Ugandan refugee working as a hotel maid, Esme Reade - ambitious journalist, and Carol Hetherington - recently widowed.

Paradise City is what I would describe as an easy, holiday read. The characters were slightly stock and predictable, but Day has written a definite page-turner. I ended up rooting for Howard despite myself (and his behaviour) and found him to be the most personable, real character.

Day successfully develops the characters' individual stories, and allows each to remain real, and true to themselves. There is the feeling that Day has written the book backwards - in that she already has the ending in mind and knows how the characters' lives will collide. 

Despite it taking me a few chapters to get into the book, once I did I finished it within half a day. The story is intriguing and full of twists (up to a certain point, where things then begin to become predictable).

The ending did seem rushed and quickly sewn together, with everything resolved far too easily. However, Paradise City is an overall enjoyable and easy read.

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Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Date of publication: 21st May 2015

Pages: 368

My rating: 3 out of 5

#fiction #contemporaryfiction #review #bookreview #holidayread #easyread