Monday, 27 January 2014

Orla's Code by Fiona Pearse


Reviewer : Gillian Hamer, author of The Charter (www.gillianhamer.com)

What we thought : A contemporary women's fiction written around the mainly male world of high finance and computer programming. Orla Hanlon is a new recruit at investment bank, Couperdaye, recently moved from her home town of Dublin to London. The story follows Orla's career from high points to low points, and deals with the atmosphere of company politics and how she deals with the situation when Orla finds herself a scapegoated following a major systems failure.
She also has a casual relationship with someone from Couperdaye, known only as ‘Columbus’ who remains a mystery until the very end of the book - and my guesses all proved wrong!

Fiona Pearse is a competent writer, the story well planned, and the book well edited. She clearly knows what’s she’s talking about and writer from experience. She slips easily into Orla's character, creates believable dialogue and interesting minor characters. I found some of the computer terminology and detail a bit of a struggle, but I'm sure to those in the know it was all perfectly accurate and added validity to Orla's work struggles.
An enjoyable read and well recommended as a new name in contemporary writing.

You’ll enjoy this if you like : Kate Morton, Nora Roberts, Jojo Moyes.

Avoid if you don’t like :  Computers!

Ideal accompaniments : A banana and passion fruit smoothie and sandwich from Pret-a-Manger..

Genre : Contemporary

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