Marjorie Grainger comes home one day to find her sister, Dot, dead in her kitchen — suicide by gas oven. But was it really suicide? Their mother, Mrs Clair, has her doubts, and begins to plot her revenge.

This book was intended to be published in the mid-1930s, but the typeset manuscript was lost and only unearthed about 70 years later. In comparison with other thrillers of his (Plain Murder and Payment Deferred), this holds up well in terms of illustrating his characters’ psychological turmoil. I also found it interesting that a book written by a man in 1935 would be sufficiently informed about women to mention menstrual periods—although perhaps I don’t read enough 1930s pulp thrillers to know how commonplace such discussion is.

However, of the three thrillers of Forester’s that I’ve read, this is probably my least favourite. The title doesn’t really come into effect, as it were, until the last third or so of the novel. The novel itself is very good, but the title is perhaps misleading.

Despite my quibbles, I would still recommend this book. ( )

Other than knowing it was set in 1930s Britain, I had little idea what this book would be like as a read. I chose it because of its title and its classification as a Penguin Modern Classic. I half expected it to be along the lines of the Thirty-nine Steps, it isn't. Marjorie is trapped in a stultifying marriage to a man who mistreats her. Had he chosen not to mistreat her sister even more cruelly, Marjorie is to type of character who would have waited for the course of time to free her from Ted.
But this isn't a domestic tale of disappointed dreams. As the blurb describes it, The Pursued is a dark, twisted tale of murder, lust and retribution. Sex and murder drive this story, yet both are kept very firmly in the background. This is a character driven tale, not action driven.
The story is told from the viewpoint of each of the protagonists. We move from the innermost thoughts of one character to the innermost thoughts of the next. This is a very clever storytelling device, allowing us to know what the characters think is going to happen next. The suspense comes from discovering whether events unfold as the characters believe, and what ramifications follow. This is a story of consequences, a slowly paced, yet page turning psychological drama, with the most unlikely conspirator. Definitely a modern classic.

Nina Jon is the author of the newly released Magpie Murders, a series of short murder mysteries with a Cluedo-esque element.
She is also the author of the Jane Hetherington's Adventures in Detection crime and mystery series, about private detective Jane Hetherington. ( )