Review: Short, sharp and clever
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 11, 2011
After suffering for years in an abusive marriage, Pammy is nothing but relieved her husband has finally moved out. Her freedom is an illusion however, as her husband continues to intimidate her, and Pammy knows she will never escape his brutality. Pushed beyond her limits, Pammy decides that only his death will allow her to live and devises an elaborate plan to rid herself of him once and for all.It's a challenge in stories of novella length to establish a character that the reader to connect to but Griffin achieves that easily. My allegiance immediately lay with Pammy as she described her life as a victim of domestic violence. Her situation is inherently sympathetic but it is to Griffin's credit that, even as Pammy schemes to murder her husband, I continued to support her. Pammy's husband has no redeeming qualities so I had real concerns about his impending demise, though it would never be something I would condone in real life, but I did experience a twinge of regret when Pammy decides he should not go to his grave alone. I was intrigued by the moral ambiguity that Griffin provoked with her characterisation and thought provoking plot.While the premise of the story is quite simple, it has a surprising moral and ethical complexity. Griffin deconstructs the development of Pammy's relationship with her husband, illustrating the warning signs of an abusive relationship Pammy had ignored. While the blame for violence rests squarely on the abuser, Griffin doesn't excuse the contribution Pammy made in making herself a victim. It's a subtle yet thought provoking undercurrent that I did not expect in a story described as Chick Lit Noir by the author. Similarly, Pammy's choice to murder her husband, has unexpected consequences which I thought was a very clever twist to the story and was a satisfying and balanced conclusion.A tale of revenge and it's consequences, Half-Inch is a well crafted novella that I thought entertaining and clever. Short, yet sharp, I'm happy to recommend it.