Pleasant Vices (by Judy Astley)

I have never read anything by Judy Astley before. But 'Pleasant Vices', when I saw it in a charity shop, looked as if it would be my kind of book. It has a pastel cover, interesting blurb, and - I assumed - was light women's fiction.

I was wrong.

Perhaps it's supposed to be humorous, but it didn't strike me as remotely funny. The book - at least, for the first few chapters - revolves around a very strange family. They have a druggie son and an over-sexed ten-year-old daughter. The parents are even worse.

I found the people totally unbelievable, and the plot, frankly, disgusting. It takes a lot for me to give up entirely on a novel I have started; it's only happened with a handful over the course of many thousands of books I have read. This was one of them. I gave up, with a sense of relief, after about five chapters.

I would definitely not recommend this. 

However, the author is popular and many people enjoy these books, so I am probably in the minority.