The Control Freak Chronicles - Sarah Tucker

THERE S a little bit of a control freak in all of us but in Helena Treadwell s world, there s a whole lot of that in it her ex-husband. Forty-four-year-old Helena is the heroine of Sarah Tucker s latest novel, The Control Freak Chronicles (�6.99 Arrow), a

THERE'S a little bit of a control freak in all of us but in Helena Treadwell's world, there's a whole lot of that in it her ex-husband.

Forty-four-year-old Helena is the heroine of Sarah Tucker's latest novel, The Control Freak Chronicles (�6.99 Arrow), a slice of grown-up chick-lit, and finds herself losing control when her ex comes back into her life.

Helena had built a good life for herself and her nine-year-old son Freddie, but when ex-hubby Leonard comes back into her life in a big way, everything starts to spiral out of control.

She loses her job at a radio station, Leonard and the "other woman", also named Helena, move to Helena's home town of Castleford, and her dad falls ill.

While finding a new job proves easy, dealing with Leonard, and her new role as a TV producer working on a show about Castleford, does not.

From the will-they, won't-they relationship with director Will, and the underhand tactics of Leonard, the Control Freak Chronicles will certainly entertain you.

Light relief comes from Helena's friends - Esther, who is keeping a file on her indiscreet boss, while also filling her author husband's books with embarrassing tales about her friends, and Victoria, a tells-it-like-it-is reporter who had an affair with her boss.

Although the middle of the book will have you wondering where the story is going, it does have a satisfying, if predictable ending.

As the film crew finally finish their documentary about how the community spirit in Castleford is making it such a success, a major life event makes Helena wake-up and realise that the only person you can truly control is yourself - and that sometimes it can be fun to lose control.

- CLAIRE STILL