Book Review: The Swimmer by Graham Norton

Publication date: April 14th 2022
Pages: 96

Summary:

Helen is a retired teacher living on the Irish coast. She enjoys the peace and quiet – despite the burden of Margaret, her unpleasant sister. Margaret arrived three years ago for a short holiday, but somehow managed to stay and worm her way into Helen’s life.

One day, Helen sees a man struggling in the sea and decides to investigate. She doesn’t quite know what it is, but something about it feels very strange…

Source: Goodreads

Thoughts:

I’ve just finished my next Quick Reads, “The Swimmer” by Graham Norton. I’ve never read anything by Graham Norton before so his literature is new to me.

As with all books in this series, this is a short story, or a novella, and the fact it’s so short means that reviewing without spoilers is a little tricky.

In this story, Helen is sitting in her house when she notices a swimmer out at sea. Later on she notices that the swimmer hasn’t returned.

I liked the characters in this story and I was impressed that I could grow to like leading lady Helen in such a short time. The story was fast paced and I was really invested in what was happening.

The plot was great and this is the kind of story that I could see as a TV episode in a cosy crime series, but I wasn’t a big fan of the writing style, which used some very short sentences. As I’ve not read any of Norton’s other work, I’m not sure if this is his style, or something he has adopted for this quick read.

I liked it and if you’re into cosy mysteries, I would recommend you give this a try! It’s only £1, after all!

Overall rating: A quick read, Graham Norton‘s book ‘The Swimmer’ is quite a gripping read for such a short story. I liked the characters and I was really into the story, but less keen on the writing style – 4 stars.