It took me days to read because it was boring upon boring. Absolutely nothing happens in this book, but stuff does try to happen related to the synopsis. Every character is written with the same voice and there's no real characterization, so when the events and POVs are switching between three characters regularly, it's hard to figure out what's going on. Everyone makes odd choices and everyone seems almost-forgiving of serious stuff that most people would distance themselves from. The ending made no sense. In the beginning, there was an interaction with a parrot that made me laugh, so there is that. Not a fan of this work, though, and it's unlikely I'll read other works of hers.. ( )

What a fun read. Surprised by the 'who did it'. ( )

This book beautifully bridges the gap between thriller and literary fiction. I loved the characters and the pacing. I was nervous about the premise because it concerns voluntary euthanasia, which in real life is often weaponized against people with disabilities. But the fictional secret society only works with people with terminal illnesses who are in great pain. The story also reveals how unscrupulous people could take advantage of the lofty goals of voluntary euthanasia. The only disability trope was a villain pretending to be disabled. I really like this author and I’m looking forward to reading more of her work. ( )

Felix Pink is an ‘exiteer’ - he doesn’t exactly help the dying exit this life, but he keeps them company while they are helping themselves. Exiteers are supposed to stay on the side of the law - just - but when Felix is working with a new and inexperienced partner he is horrified when she provides the little bit of assistance that is all the would be suicide needs. And he is even more horrified to discover that the man that they are supposed to have assisted is not the person who is actually dead…

In the front bedroom an old man was leaning out of a bed by the window, trying to reach a walking stick that had apparently fallen on to the wooden floor. He propped himself on an elbow, glared at Felix and grumbled: ‘You took your time!’ Felix froze. Took in the gaunt, grey face, the frail body, the bedside table filled with pills … Then he stepped backwards out of the room and pulled the door smartly shut behind him. Amanda was at his shoulder now. ‘What is it?’ she said, but Felix couldn’t speak because all the words he’d ever known seemed to be whirling around inside his skull like bingo balls. The ones he needed finally dropped slowly from his numb lips. ‘We killed the wrong man.’

As a man in his late seventies whose wife and son are dead, Felix feels it is for him to take the blame, rather than his young partner Amanda. But things get more and more complicated…

This was a good light read (despite the subject matter) and one that I enjoyed. Until the final denouement that is, which I have to say was just plain stupid in my opinion! But I might try another book by this author. ( )

I've enjoyed almost all of the books by Belinda Bauer that I've read--I've read 4 or 5. I'd describe them as psychological thrillers/crime novels, and that's how I'd describe this one.

Felix an elderly retired gentleman in a country village belongs to a group called the Exiteers. Members of this group assist terminally ill people who have chosen suicide to end their lives. By the rules of the organization (and the law), they cannot provide affirmative assistance in the execution of the act, and they can only be there to offer moral support and comfort to the person committing suicide.

As the novel opens, Felix is accompanied by a new member of the Exiteers to the home of a terminally ill man who wishes to die. Unfortunately, the new recruit, perhaps because of inexperience, accidentally does something that might be considered affirmative assistance, and then to Felix's horror, they learn that the man who dies was not the person who requested the help of the Exiteers. Suddenly, Felix finds himself wanted by the police in a murder investigation.

The novel is full of twists and turns, and made for compelling reading. Another excellent book from Bauer.

Recommended.

3 1/2 stars ( )