Service

An amazing well written book which keeps the reader guessing the ultimate outcome. Strong 'me too' book with many scenarios that any woman would recognise. Set in Dublin in the catering trade and told from the perspective of three voices, Daniel, Daniel's wife Julie and an employee of Daniel's, Hannah.

Covers both sexual, physical and emotional abuse with a court case in 2017 and events from 10 years before. The tension grows as stories are interwoven with a mix of lies and truth which make compelling reading.

A must read revealing the toxic culture in many work places and which, we as women, have all experienced at some point even if not to such an extreme.

Wow. Honestly, I'm in between lost for words and wanting to tell you the whole plot. I want to tell how wonderful the writing is, how the plot develops without judgment, without sansationalising. This book is superb. It should definitely win awards.

The story is simple: Daniel Costello is a chef at the top of his game until a year old charge of sexual assault is laid at his door from Tracey, a waitress whose story is one of harassment, sexual abuse and physical intimidation.

Three voices narrate this story - Daniel whose confusion and feelings of persecution are clear on every page. Julie, his wife, who tries to see past the allegations and remember the man she married. And Hannah, another waitress who had walked out of the restaurant without a reason.

I get lost in how beautifully this horrifying tale is told. Sarah Gilmartin's Dinner Party was good but this is another level; for me, this was perfect. I had to force myself to stop reading too fast because it grabs you and holds you like so few novels do these days. She manages to tell a divisive story without preaching, without taking anyone's side.

I've got to stop evangelising but this is a novel you really must read. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

4.5

A sexual assault case against chef Daniel Costello is brought before the court in Dublin. Three versions but who is telling the truth? The waitress back in the day at his restaurant is Hannah, she tells her side. Daniel gives us his perspective as the allegations and the subsequent rumour mill force him to close the successful restaurant. He is in disbelief, he has worked so hard, he runs a ‘tight ship’, wins award after award but is it all to collapse like a house of cards? Finally, there’s Julia, the wife of twenty two years and who watches the paparazzi behind her curtains and ruminates how Daniels actions have ruined the lives of the family and she just wants it all to go away. Will she hold her peace as she always does, be loyal and stand by her man especially in the court room? She looks back on their life together and wonders about it all. Three people tell the story as they see it, each forced to reevaluate their version of the truth.

Sarah Gilman is a very talented writer as her latest character driven study clearly demonstrates and choosing to give three different versions of the rape accusations makes for fascinating and compelling reading. Through Hannah you are captivated by the intensity and chaos of the restaurant, the excitement of it but also running the gauntlet of the misogyny of some customers. Initially she’s buzzing with working in such a high end restaurant but then that changes and the atmosphere becomes more toxic. We also have her perception of Daniel, a powerful, egotistical and driven chef, a temperamental artist but also her growing insidious fear. Daniel's perspective is not unnaturally very different but you can read between the lines and you can see that behaviour post service is at best a bit weird and at worst something entitled. Julia is very contained, she has to be for the sake of her sons. Through her you see the impact on a relationship and the family with some interesting dynamics at play. You realise she is literally almost bursting with suppressed emotion. Each of the perspectives is equally strong, the characterisation is perceptive and incisive and it arrives at a very good conclusion.

Overall, a well written, pertinent and relevant novel.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Pushkin Press, ONE for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Service follows a celebrity chef faced with a reckoning when rape accusations against him appear on social media, his wife who has chosen not to examine his behaviour too closely and a young woman still dealing with the fallout from the toxic culture over which he presided.

Set in 2017, the year the Harvey Weinstein exposé was published, Gilmartin's novel looks back ten years, unfolding her story from three alternating perspectives. Hannah recalls the post-shift hedonism, the pleasure of being picked out by Daniel and the discomfiture of the restaurant’s misogynistic atmosphere. Daniel is full of pride at his achievement, an egotism fostered by celebrity and the hierarchical working practices in which the chef rules the roost. Julie’s narrative is addressed to Daniel, recalling the many compromises she and their sons have made for him. These three threads are smartly interwoven revealing a devastating portrait of abuse perpetrated in a multitude of ways. So much has happened since #MeToo occupied the media that it’s slipped off the agenda. Gilmartin’s acerbic, incisive novel makes abundantly clear that it’s not just movie moguls whose predatory behaviour needs to be checked.

A proper novel, each thread felt true, each character lived in a universe not a vacuum. Everyone was forced to revaluate events from the past as time puts a different spin on stuff.

The obvious comparison is the excellent Anatomy of a Scandal but I suspect more of us will recognise this life, these people.
The #metoo subject matter is big enough for multiple stories and we are all involved. The whole of society needs to be part of the long over due shift.

Service is big enough to cover our parents, our Eighteen year old selves, the way we react as witnesses and the way we move forward. It's been an excellent read.