4 cunning but shocking stars for a book I am raging I did not pick up sooner.
A gripping thriller, and a murder that was cleverly plotted, forensically planned, and clinically executed and a story that kept the reader in suspense with the multiple suspects, red herrings, and twists.
It was so compelling; it was as close to being involved in solving your own murder investigation as you will ever get. Just brilliant. Complex, shocking, and completely addictive.
What’s the gripe with the 4 stars? It was the reading experience, personal preference, and the chapter-less approach that irked me. It felt like someone not pausing between sentences to come up for breath, or a city tour that didn’t make those all-important stops at the key tourist sights.
However, a book heavily themed with transgender, sibling jealousy, murder, rape, grief, pregnancy, misguided loyalties, violence, betrayal, press, and social media ethics.
The Plot
Faith Appleyard is viciously attacked and sexually abused but refuses to talk about it or make a statement to the police, citing an April fools prank. An attack that bears all the same hallmarks of the brutal murder of Sasha Blake. A copy-cat, of the roadside rapist, or coincidence in that the perpetrator used the same plastic bags and cable ties to subdue their victims. Only some got away.
Review and Comments
This book felt like an authentic murder investigation using interview recordings, transcripts from court, crime boards, and newspaper clippings, while social media played a menacing and sometimes vital role.
I loved how small clues were revealed, some resulting in a dead end, while others took the investigation in a new direction, but all the time it felt just as you imagined a real murder investigation to be with the different lines of enquiry and following up all possible leads.
The story itself was superb, gripping, and unpredictable. I guessed some of the plot but was thrown by not making the connection between the people, events and attacks, and also the past and present. All of which made this such a great multilayered plot.
The characters also felt real, each bringing their own brand of menace in this lurid theatre of evil, whilst many felt vulnerable and flawed in their own way, bringing such emotion and deep insight into the minds of the victims, their families, and the aggressors.
What I didn’t like
My preference is to read chapters that introduce sub plots, a particular theme, or focus on a particular character, and a means of setting the pace, with a beginning and an end. This book was missing those pauses for reflection. The flip between the narrators then felt disjointed as we meandered through the story (not always clear who was narrating) which made this a frustrating read for me personally. So much so I knocked off a point in what was otherwise a fantastic book.
Riveting, complex, cunning and immersive but please more structure to the book.