Green Eye

The plot, not surprisingly, is driven by that green-eyed monster jealousy. Rosa’s son Danny, who is enrolled at Billings College Cambridge, has recently broken-up with his long-term girlfriend Julia, who is struggling to let go.

He, in turn, is infatuated with the beautiful and enigmatic Stella, who is playing the part of (wait for it) Desdemona in the university’s production of 'Othello'. And just in case this on and off-stage jealousy isn’t enough, Stella appears to be casting a spell over Danny’s happily married godfather Dr Perry Grimshaw.

Life at Billings College is further complicated by fiery interdepartmental conflict, a tacky and interfering mother-in-law, a host of pseudo-religious ‘plagues’ and a serial rapist intent on leaving his mark on ‘promiscuous’ women.

In what appears to be a case of life imitating art, a beautiful young woman is murdered. This is followed by false accusations, strange revelations and a climax of biblical proportions.

The narrative hops almost randomly from the perspective of one character to the next. At times effective, this approach could have been more sophisticatedly executed. While Cork may have intended to obscure the identity of the murderer and rapist, this technique inadvertently makes these identities obvious.

The religious undertone is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the novel: a subtle examination of the distortion of religious texts and the dangers of fundamentalism coupled with charisma.

Not badly written, the most disappointing thing about ‘Green Eye’ is that Cork underestimates the intelligence of her reader — the allusions are too obvious, the truly gripping themes under-explored and the plot is just a little too much like a sinister soap-opera.