The No-Show

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As joyful as it is heart-breaking, Beth’s fourth novel tackles some hard-hitting themes, and it’s all the richer for it. Changing clinic schedules can be effective if it is adopted to a specific population, but can be cumbersome in a large health care facility. Kaetrin: I think The Flatshare was a romance but not everyone did, and with The Road Trip, Jennie saw it as romance while to me it wasn’t so clear. I have a feeling I would read it and think I’d rather have read the same basic concept from the guy’s singular point of view. Which isn’t to say that heavy material is something I never want to read; I’m just wondering if that’s part of the reason The Flatshare stands out above the others.

But it wasn’t a mystery, and I find it hard to apply the rules of a mystery to a book that while not a romance, had at its heart three romantic relationships.

This information is going behind spoiler tags so please note it is a Major Spoiler, but I’m keeping the specifics somewhat vague. Maybe more than other authors, I compare O’Leary’s books to each other, perhaps because I’ve read them in fairly close succession over the past couple of years. His big smiles and charming nature melted my heart, similarly to Siobhan, Miranda and Jane (of whom his interactions were my favourite) and despite its sadness, The No-Showmade me feel like I was enveloped in the warmest of hugs from start to finish. Patients don't attend appointments for several reasons including; logistical reasons such as transport difficulties or the lack of a suitable carer to bring the child.

So because I did love the Flatshare, I don’t mind borrowing this one from the library, but I’ll only give it so many pages to rope me in before I take it back. Content warnings: self-harm, alcoholism, obsession, stalking, sexual harassment, miscarriage, dementia.The story sucked me in with its complicated layers and kept me wondering whether one woman needed Joseph in her life a bit more than the rest. Had a lot of problems with the narrative, I really never warmed to Joseph and his emotionally manipulative ass. Jennie: Thanks and yeaaaaah, heavy-handed misdirection and blinking neon lights are some of the things I hated about her earlier books so I think you are correct. There were serious elements and the business at the end with the ex-boyfriend but none of it felt heavy like some of the issues in the books that followed. It’s not explicit or gory, but it was shocking, and I want to warn readers who would find this part upsetting.

Six more patients (11%) cancelled their clinic appointments but only half of them were replaced by other patients as the other half did not give adequate notice of cancellation for the appointment office to notify a replacement.

I think readers (especially romance readers) will have a better experience with THE NO-SHOW if they go into it knowing it is NOT a romance, but women’s fiction with a twist. I loved every female character in this book, but I must admit my heart really did fall for Jane, the sweetest character with a lot of self-doubt and worry, I was really rooting for Janey and so the ending (if you’ve read the book) made my heart swell! Still himself, more at home in a suit than a hoodie, but just a little more the version you need him to be. Without giving away the major twist of the book and ruining the whole reader experience, I think it’s important that readers know that only 2 of the 3 women get a romance HEA. The success of the first intervention identified another area for improvement as the number of cancellations created space for urgent patients.