Would you do it? Would you “nick a cheque” made out to somebody else, if you saw a way to do the deed undetected? If you were short on cash? If you had a grudge against the payee?

Natalie, the thirty-something protagonist of Deborah Moggach’s novel, Final Demand, decides that she will do it. Toughs in her neighborhood just bashed out her car window. How will she pay for a new one?

And she does have a grudge; her employer just docked the smokers for those nicotine breaks they take twice a day.

Natalie works in accounts receivable at the telephone company.  So when a not-quite-forge-proof payment comes through, Natalie gets to thinking. With only a click of this key . . . Mine, all mine, and nobody the wiser.

Natalie’s scheme calls for dragging in some unwitting accomplices, which I won’t give away here. But once she gets her ducks in a row, an opportune check comes through, Natalie clicks that key. Pretty soon, Natalie and her new husband:

could go to the movies; they could buy a microwave. Every morning, as a matter of routine, they drank Sainsbury’s freshly squeezed orange juice, with bits in it. It surprised her, how quickly one got used to it.

Author Moggach cuts away to a few victims of Natalie’s “victimless” crime, people who thought they had safely paid their phone bill, but suddenly find the line dead. One of these side stories goes pretty much nowhere. It might have been inserted as the token-woke element that I hear some publishers demand these days.

Another side story forms a significant plot thread.

Natalie carries on, however, triumphantly getting away with it. Her conscience seems to be in on the grift, quietly enjoying that orange juice. But dark deeds can never stay in the dark. Natalie lies to loved ones. Natalie lies to herself. Will our cheque-nicking non-heroine get what’s coming to her? Where do suppressed consciences hide and what do they look like when they jump out from behind the door?

Final Demand is worth 3½ stars out of 5. I like plot twists that make me envious of the author’s prowess. Moggach tossed in a few that strained belief.

Prepare for a rainy story in the gritty northern cities of England where a cheeky Natalie thinks the golden ticket in her hand will keep paying out. We’ll see about that.

Photo credit: ~Oryctes~ on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA

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