A Pleasure and a Calling

Don't you just love it when you read a book and can see just how well it would work as a film, as TV as some kind of visual adaptation? It's even better if you have this thought and then discover that other people have evidently had the exact same thought and film rights have been bought up. Now sadly I can't say that I've come across any rumours that A Pleasure and a Calling is to be made into a film, but if not it probably should. Creepy seems to be the word that comes up most often in discussions of this book, and to be fair it is the word that best sums up the wonderful central character of Mr Heming. Mr Heming is the embodiment of creepy; he is a simply brilliant character. I kept getting a 'One Hour Photo' vibe from this whole novel, certainly Sy the photo guy and Mr Heming would find that they have a lot in common.
To the outside world Mr Heming seems to be an upstanding member of the community, he donates, he has excellent relations with his employees and he is always willing to help his clients. Even if they don't always realise that he is helping them. All he wants is to be able to act the voyeur, to share the intimate details of people's lives and he will go to great lengths to make sure that he gets what he wants. This story is deeply, deeply creepy from the start, although things become especially dark once Abigail comes on the scene, who knows what lengths Mr Heming will go to, to experience her life..... his intrusion quickly becomes anything but benign.
Reading this book will make you wonder just how many people could have access to your home, and if it doesn't tempt you to get the locks changed then you simply aren't reading it right! lol.