Here One Moment

The hook introducing the plot of Here one moment, has to be one of the best I have ever come across. “Later, not a single person will recall seeing the lady board the flight at Hobart Airport. Nothing about her appearance or demeanour raises a red flag or even an eyebrow.” (p.1) What follows is a unique setting of the scene aboard the aircraft. In stead of sketching the passengers, the author focusses on the qualities of the lady who would later be known as the “Death Lady”. We do not read what she does, rather what she does not do. In doing so, the vast cast of characters is introduced to the reader.
Which raises the point that the book should be read with attention to detail as the story is multi-layered. The introducing of even more characters, apart from the passengers on the flight, is intentional and serves to enhance the mystery surrounding the lady who goes unnoticed, “until she does what she does.” (p.6)
I am not into psychics, fortune telling, foreseeing the future, anything esoteric. The story line centres around exactly those aspects, but what saved it for me was the fact that the author does not sell the idea either way. In fact, there is continual mention of the debate about the legitimacy of paranormal practices.
The presentation was also most effective. Alternatively, the main character reveals her life story in the first person narrative, while that of the rest of the passengers and other characters are told in the third person. This definitely helps to propel the reading of the lengthy novel.
I cannot compare this new book to previous books of Liane Moriarty, as this is my first encounter with the writing of the multimillion-copy selling Australian author. Suffice to say that I remained interested throughout the almost 500 pages and appreciated the clever way in which the questions are eventually all answered.
Here one moment is distributed in South Africa by Penguin Fiction, a division of Penguin Random House South Africa.