A Pleasure and a Calling
Picador
Starting as a quiet tale about an odd man, A Pleasure and a Calling wastes little time expanding to a clever psychological thriller about a man full of menace.
William Heming has owned a successful real-estate agency in a British town for 17 years, selling hundreds of houses. And he knows those houses intimately because he has kept the keys to each and, as a self-appointed guardian of the village, has little compunction about visiting those homes when the owners are out.
Hogan avoids clichés as he delivers one surprise after another. Heming at first seems harmless, but Hogan shows, bit by bit, how he has been scheming and diabolical, making this complex character both a villain and a hero.
A Pleasure and a Calling brims with wry wit and taut tension, and will make readers think about changing the locks on their doors, just to be on the safe side.
