Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC.

The three main characters are Hector from Mexico, Cecilie from Norway and Kate from England. Hector meets Cecilie in 2013 in a Depeche Mode fan forum and they grow close but Hector still marries girlfriend Pilar in 2018, without changing his relationship with Cecilie. Kate is a put upon mother of three whose husband George is unfaithful. It is at first not clear how she fits into the story, and when it does it makes no sense as there seems to be too much of an age gap between her and Hector to have worked as a relationship in her youth.

This was originally published under the title The Distance and I wish I'd realised that instead of thinking this is the author's latest. The original came out in 2018 and I'm pretty certain I read it then and wasn't too taken with it.

It hasn't got any better, I'm afraid. The writing style is still confusing with several timelines, POVs and flashbacks, there is still off-putting bad language in it, and I've never felt so lost in a book, what with an entire character being completely superfluous to the story between Hector and Cecilie. 

Also, people don't really inject words from their mother tongue into English all the time, it's very clichéd. Hector and Cecilie's online chats feel pretty awkward, with Hector's "Siiiiiii" to everything. Also, why is Cecilie's family constantly calling Hector "The Mexican"? That feels condescending and racist.

If infidelity is a trigger warning for you, avoid this book as just about every character is involved in it. There is also a casual mention of "I had a relationship with my teacher when I was 17 and he was 34" which gave me the ick.

I wasn't invested in the characters who had absolutely nothing in common with each other. The plot was boring and I didn't like all the infidelity. Not one of the very different lifestyles resonated with me and I particularly struggled with the plot in Mexico.

If you re-release a book after seven years, maybe check out the plot and writing style again instead of just slapping on a nice new cover. Some of the language in the book, especially the Mexican part, is unacceptable.