Geneva
By Richard Armitage

Review written by Louise Cannon (Lou)

I bought the psychological thriller, Geneva at the crime book festival at Bloody Scotland in September. I wasn’t totally planning on, but after I heard Richard Armitage talk, I just knew I had to read it. He is better known as an actor, but what a debut! It is far better than expected… He talked about the number of drafts he wrote and has made clear no ghost-writers were used. He likes to write and sees it as a continuing career. You can find out more here about the Bloody Scotland event. It’ll come up in a separate tab so you can navigate easily back to this post. What was talked about at Bloody Scotland here: https://bookmarksandstages.home.blog/2024/09/17/review-by-lou-of-richard-armitage-chaired-by-brian-burnett-rcarmitage-bryanb1965-bloodyscotland-bloodyscotland/
I could see why it was picked by Richard and Judy for their book club read and won awards. Find out in my review below why I think this thriller was better than I thought it was going to be. First onto the blurb…

Blurb

When you have it all
Sarah Collier has been lucky: she’s got a glittering scientific career and a husband who loves her more than anything.
And you start to lose it
But now she’s showing signs of early Alzheimer’s, and the only hope for a cure is in a controversial new technology being unveiled in Switzerland.
You’d go anywhere for help
In Geneva, as events turn dangerous and her memory loss worsens, Sarah has to decide who to trust: the people around her – or, despite her symptoms, herself.

Review

If you read Geneva, remember to breath. It’s all too easy to hold your breath.
It’s a scary thought, to be trapped. To be stuck in ones mind, starting to lose your place. Sarah has been diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s. As a reader, you enter her state of mind. The book draws you into her world. You see how life had been flourishing for her. She had it all, the career and the husband.

From the outset though things are quite sad with her dad’s health that she has to deal with. She ends up with a lot on her plate, including that later on she too has her own health to handle, which you can see deteriorate. This book really pulls on your heartstrings. As she deteriorates and desperately tries to seek out the new technology in Geneva that she’d heard could significantly help her, everything hangs in the balance. 

The screw tightens and the emotions heighten. Armitage places readers right in the centre of her world in this page-turner and makes you think about your own life. He gives enough time to allow the story to breath as poignancy increases as the characters naturally develop. In the midst of seeking out treatment, she and nor does the reader, know who can actually be trusted as things become darkly sinister at the facility.

As well as health, Richard Armitage also looks at the rise and rise of fake information being passed around. He cleverly intertwines this important subject into the story, so it avoids the hazard of taking you out of the story.

Geneva is a well-accomplished debut that is hard to put down until it is finished. You can feel everything, all the emotions and visualise it all as the characters and events jump from the page. 

Geneva is so good that I can see Richard Armitage writing more books and making a career out of it. I’d certainly be interested in reading a second book.
The Cut is available to pre-order.