The Devil's in the Detail

​Author: Melina Lewis
Publisher: Melina Lewis
Reviewer:  Nancy Richards
Mark Twain is quoted as having said ‘write what you know’. If he was right, one can only wonder at how Melina Lewis came to know what she writes about here, in all its devilish detail. It is a book full of wickednesses, nastiness, deception, degradation, broken hopes – but finally of comeuppance.
So here they are Elle and Brent Mullen – she with her beautiful body, pigeon pair children, 

trust fund, chardonnay-soaked book club and saving-grace social work career from an airless container in the ‘deep south’ – and him with his trophy wife, gym ‘n drinking habits and involvement in an edgy IT business. If you live in selected circles of Cape Town you will know well the settings and quite probably some similar to those in the starring roles.
Things have already started to go horribly wrong in the Mullen marriage – for some of the reasons obvious from above. But the plot really thickens when Elle takes on Ethan’s case. Ethan is a bright but embattled young lad with a gangster dad, a druggie but now dead mum, a moffie brother, also now dead and another brother high in his mother’s footsteps. By way of contrasting characters, there is also hot-bod Jax the cute little yoga teacher. And then there’s Rafiq Daniels – and this is where the proverbial really hits the fan.
In the interest of not giving anything away, I’ll leave it at that – but you will need no encouragement (though a glass of chilled chardonnay might be advised in some places) in rattling through this ‘oh-my-word-he-didn’t’ page turner. Set in generous 12pt palatino it’s easy on the eye. But the question remains – how has Melina Lewis come to know all this in her work as a communications consultant.  Melina?  ​