Almost A Crime by Penny Vincenzi, is a story about love and betrayal, about ruthless ambition and tortuous family politics, all set against the background of that sociological phenomenon of the nineties, the power marriage.
Tom and Octavia Fleming have such a marriage: high profile, mutually supportive, both professionally and personally, He is that most intriguing of contemporary creatures, a spin doctor, she runs a consultancy to the charity industry. They are attractive, rich, successful, each feeding off the success of the other, cross-fertilizing ideas, clients, networking opportunities.
But then Octavia discovers Tom is having an affair; and not only the discovery but the affair itself have consequences that are potentially fatal – both to the marriage and its power.
For this is no ordinary affair, but one that leads to terror and danger, threatening other people, damaging other lives. Nothing and no one in the charmed circle in which the Flemmings move quite escapes; their children, their friends, Octavia’s ruthlessly over-possessive father, the woman who loves him – and the one thing that seemed to them inviolate, their own professional success.