#BlogTour ‘Notes On A Drowning’ by Anna Sharpe

About the book…

Alex knows she risks getting fired from her law firm if she takes on another unpaid case, but when she hears Rosa’s desperate voice at the other end of the phone, she knows she has to the body of Rosa’s shy teenage sister, Natalia, has been dragged, lifeless, from the Thames. Alex can’t help but think of her own missing little sister. She knows how a lack of answers can eat you alive.

Kat has worked hard to become Special Adviser to the Home Secretary, and is eager to finally put the dark and tragic part of her past behind her. But when she discovers a series of cover-ups, she begins to wonder whether her seemingly perfect new boss could be involved. Then she she’s shocked to discover a letter that raises worrying questions about a girl found drowned in London… Natalia.

There are complex and painful reasons for Alex and Kat not to work together, but when it becomes clear that there are powerful people involved in Natalia’s death, and that other girls are at risk, Alex and Kat must overcome their differences to find answers. Will they save the girls and discover the truth? Or will the high-powered players in this game stop Alex and Kat for good?

My thanks to Tracy at Compulsive Readers  and publishers Orion for the blog tour invite and my gifted review copy of ‘Notes On A Drowning’ by Anna Sharpe which is published in e-book and hardcover formats on January 25th 2025!
A confession-I don’t believe I have read any Anna Mazzola books but after ‘Notes On A Drowning’, that will be swiftly corrected.

Legal and political thrillers are not always my first choice read as I don’t feel I am clever enough to pick apart or work out just what is going on, so it takes quite an author to pull me in and keep me reading to the last page.

And Anna Sharpe is just that author.

The synopsis was intriguing, I am always there for a justice needing to be served for the underdog victim and this takes that story trope and runs off with it into some really interesting directions.

Alex Moreno is a lawyer on the edge of being sacked because she is unable to turn down pro bono cases but her sense of justice means she just cannot ignore wrongdoings-in this case, her colleague Ari has asked her to intervene in the inquest for a young Maldovan girl, fished out of the Thames following a party on a boat, evidence of her intoxication is present in the form of drugs and alcohol in her bloodstream.

Natalia, the young dead girl has a sister who refuses to believe this is the case, her sister would not touch any substances like that as she has a family history of alcoholism which both sisters are determined not to repeat, as well as not being able to swim.

Rosa’s all consuming guilt over losing touch with her younger sister, battles with her knowledge of her and this really hits Alex hard and encourages her to try and adjourn the inquest, a request which is denied for no good reason which Alex can see.

On her final warning with her boss about not bringing enough money into the firm, Alex is absolutely invested in bringing closure to Rosa and Natalia, something she has not had in the disappearance of her own sister, Elisa.

Brought into this intriguing story of redemptive justice is Kat Ishida, an advisor to the Home Secretary who receives Alex’ Freedom Of Information request for Natalia and recognises the name of the travel agency Natalia used…it’s the same one that took Elisa to Japan, which is where Elisa vanished.

These two tenacious and formidable women, driven by a need to succeed as much as their own personalities reluctantly join forces to uncover just what is going on , as Kat’s concerns about her Home Secretary boss and the pressure on Alex from her, push them to believe that something bigger is at stake.

Natalia is introduced in the prologue as she is drowning and dying, your start is also the end as her hopes and dreams dissipate into air bubbles that hasten her death. The immediate connection with this dying girl is intense and emotional, so when you start reading how Alex, and Kat in their alternating chapters dance closer to each other, Natalia’s ghost is a constant presence waiting for redemption.

Alex and Kat are women who have worked relentlessly in their respective fields to get where they are but their fear of failure is more equally matched by their sense of justice for those who are not privileged by accident of birth, circumstance or patronage.

When combined with their feelings towards a young woman, tossed away, and abandoned by a patriarchal system, their determination is remarkable and this carries you along with them towards their mission for truth.

It is not an easy partnership as both women have things in their past they would rather move on from, but in order to move forward, both need to make their peace with things they could have done, and actions which they did take.

A relentless sense of fairness and justice drives the narrative, both women are formidable protagonists with a very human core, and it is the little details which I absolutely adored like Alex’ cat, Steven, and Kat’s love of biscuits that grace the pages of ‘Notes On A Drowning’ with the unmissable touch of a consummate author who knows her characters inside and out.

About the author… 

Anna Sharpe is the pseudonym of Anna Mazzola.

She’s the award-winning author of three historical thrillers plus one ghost novel.

Her debut novel, The Unseeing, won an Edgar Allan Poe award in the US. Her third ‘The Clockwork Girl’ set in 18th century Paris, reached number 11 in the Sunday Times Chart

Links-http://www.annamazzola.com/

Twitter @Tr4cyF3nt0n @OrionBooks