Carol Major – Google

Well written but uneven. It it took way too long to get to the point, and featured too many teasers throughout the book that then took so long to be resolved that by the time they were I’d begun to lose interest. Overall, it could have benefited from a tougher editor - I found it Too long and drawn out with an episodic structure ( split into days, with each of those then split into the voices of each main character telling their version of the day’s events) that rapidly became a bit irritating. A slightly melodramatic cliffhanger at the end of every section

As an adoptive parent I found this quite overwhelming. There are some OTT cliches in it but overall I found it very authentic. It was also good to see the adopters’ stories told so well too - so many fictional and media accounts of adoption either ignore them altogether while focusing on the birth family tragedy, or present them as some sort of selfish child stealers. Also liked the nuanced and sympathetic presentation of the birth mum. The adoption wouldn’t be the end of the story though - the little boy would in real life likely test his dad sorely through the years. A considered series 2 would be interesting.

Great photography/ cinematography but overall messy, with the main plotlines lost in a wave of irritating and unrelated dialogue that seemed to be nodding to the realist style of Ken Loach but was spoken by a range of stereotyped characters that seem like ciphers. The constant mystery of where David has been for seven years was just dull in the end - I was left not caring. I’ll give episode 2 a go and hope it improves.

Entertaining but a bit silly in places ( the figure of Hal, the husband of the diplomat Kate, is barely credible; we’re asked to believe he’s a cunning foreign policy operative even as he behaves like a dangerous buffoon. There’s too much ‘oh-so-clever’ quick-fire dialogue and in-joking that is intended purely to show how much more intellectual the main characters are than anyone else. The national stereotyping of US and British operatives is a bit cringy). The politics and insight into the world of foreign policy is interesting though more characterisation of the Iranian and Russian sides would make this less of a western-focused vehicle for a pretty actress. Homeland it isn’t.