Crime – Page 7 – My Good Reads

‘The Perfect Girl’ – Gilly Macmillan

I wanted to read this, in spite of the comments likening it to ‘Girl on a Train’ etc. Setting up such an expectation can sometimes backfire; thankfully, this time it didn’t.

The novel focuses on Zoe Maisey, a talented young musician with a genius intellect, and how actions from earlier in her life continue to haunt her.

Zoe and her mother have started a new life, far away from her past. Zoe has served her time for causing the deaths of three of her peers, but some things never go away. Knowing this about Zoe, and never being completely certain about the reliability of her evidence, means there’s an element of suspicion as we later see Zoe caught up in truly horrific events.

The story is told from constantly shifting viewpoints, and this makes it difficult to ever get a clear picture of what is happening until the author chooses to make her big reveal. There’s a lot to dislike about a number of characters, and although I understood why certain people acted as they did – and even felt some sympathy for them – the moral ambiguity is hard to take.

‘Six of Crows’ – Leigh Bardugo

It’s been a while since I read the Grisha trilogy, but it was a series I thoroughly enjoyed and I was looking forward to this.

Although we return to the land of the Grisha, we are introduced to a new cast of characters. One of our main protagonists is Kaz Brekker, a young criminal who is determined to carry out a seemingly impossible heist.

As I was reading, it did take a while to get accustomed once more to the world/names, but this was a book that was full of action. The slow build-up to the attack on the Ice Court could have been a little less detailed, but once things got going they got going quickly.

I liked the fact that a lot of the novel focused on the relationships between some of the key characters. Watching their relationships shift and develop was entertaining, and there is definite potential for further visits to these characters to get some answers to the questions we are left with at the end of the novel.

‘Game (Jasper Dent 2)’ – Barry Lyga

This, for me, was better than book one in the series. I liked the fact that we stick with Jazz and see how he copes with being the son of an infamous serial killer, but I think focusing on those close to him allowed more of an insight into Jazz’s psyche. At times, Connie and Howie do some stuff that I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind would consider, but they help us gain a more rounded impression of Jasper.

In this thrilling novel, we find out about a serial killer causing chaos on the streets of New York. I know it’s highly unlikely – but it’s possible to overlook this stretching of the truth – but Jazz gets asked by the FBI for his opinions on what has been taking place. What follows is pure heart-in-mouth territory. Not necessarily credible, but when you’re so keen to find out that crucial detail you can overlook quite a lot!

As we journey deeper into the mind of Billy Dent, there’s a dreadful sense of worlds colliding. We watch a dangerous game play out in front of us, and as Jasper and his friends get further drawn into it there is a horrible sense of the inevitable about what we are reading. The twists and turns in this kept me enthralled, and there are hints that the final part in the trilogy will get close to the bone.

The main thing that I found hard to take with this novel was the final revelation about Jazz’s family, and the uncertainty about the situations that our three young protagonists find themselves in at the close of the novel. If I’d been reading this as it was published, and had to wait for the final part, I think there would have been much teeth gnashing and wailing.

‘Vanishing Girls’ – Lauren Oliver

Nick and Dara have always been inseparable, but the love triangle with best friend Parker has caused problems. I liked the fact that Oliver gave us an insight into how their relationships were affected by this, without going on and on about it.

The narrative is split between the views of Nick and Dara. This gives us a rather slow, but well described, account of how each girl is feeling at key moments. We are told how the girls are feeling in the aftermath of a terrible accident that scars Dara.

When a young local girl, Madeline Snow, is reported missing, people are shocked. When Dara goes missing on her birthday Nick is convinced the two incidents are linked. At this point Nick starts to investigate what might have happened to Dara.

A little slow to start, this quickly became compelling reading. The force of Oliver’s prose made me desperate to see where this was going and exactly where this mystery would take us. Watching Nick and Dara flounder as they try to reconnect was heart-breaking.

Then the weird bit happened. I totally did not see it coming until just before it was revealed (the idea had occurred initially but it seemed to make no sense so I disregarded it). Suddenly everything got turned on its head and the last part of the book became an exercise in tying up loose ends. Up until the twist I was convinced this was going to be a book I’d be raving about and desperately pressing on anyone who might be interested. Right now I can’t work out if the end was pure genius or bonkers, but it threw me so much!

‘All The Rage’ – Courtney Summers

Romy Grey is used to people giving her funny looks and ostracising her. In part, it’s because her father was renowned for his drunken behaviour but it’s also because she accused the sheriff’s son of rape.

Since her claims were discredited because she had been drinking, wore a short skirt and fancied him (sensing a pattern here!), Romy has got used to spending time alone. Her friends have cut her off, and she is taunted mercilessly as nobody is prepared to believe the town’s golden boy might not be quite so golden as they want him to be.

Romy is a prickly character – perhaps understandably – and I always had the feeling that those close to her were simply waiting for an explosion. It’s almost as if they are waiting for her to accept what happened to her so they can start the process of supporting her.

After the school’s annual lakeside party, where it’s a ritual for students to drink illegally, Romy is found on a road some miles from town, her clothes torn and the words ‘Rape Me’ written on her stomach. She shuts down and hides from what she thinks has happened. Then she learns that a girl who used to be a close friend has also gone missing.

I was already angry at the attitudes shown by so many of the characters in this novel. What follows made me even more angry.

This was a powerful story that explored some of the issues around rape. The jumping time frame did make it hard to follow at times, but the end gave some hint that there might be some form of happy ending for Romy. I didn’t find this quite as powerful as ‘Asking For It’ by Louise O’Neill, but it’s certainly a valuable story.

‘I Hunt Killers (Jasper Dent 1)’ – Barry Lyga

Jasper is seventeen years old, and son of one of America’s most infamous serial killers. From an early age Jasper remembers Dear Old Dad instructing him in how to kill, how to manipulate those around you and how to cover your tracks. Even though his father is in prison, Jasper is surrounded by reminders of him. When a body is found, Jasper is convinced there is another serial killer on the loose. What bothers him more is the fact that he might be more like his dad than he thinks.

This novel explores the ideas of nature vs nurture and fate vs free will in a compelling way. At times I found Jasper a bit irritating, but who knows how such an upbringing would affect someone. My only other gripe was that some of the activities that Jasper gets involved in would, in reality, get him arrested. Sheriff Tanner – as the cop who finally captured Jasper’s dad – has something of a soft spot for this young man, but I wasn’t completely convinced that he would have been given quite so much leeway.

Those minor gripes aside, from the time the first body is found and Jasper is convinced another killer has come to town I was desperate to find out what was going on. It’s compelling reading, and focuses more on the psychology of a killer than the gory details (thankfully).

The scene where Jasper visits his dad in prison will probably give me nightmares. It reminded me of the scene in Silence of the Lambs where Clarisse goes to talk to Hannibal Lecter. I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say this was genius, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the trilogy (which I’ve heard good things about).

‘The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer’ – Kate Summerscale

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advance copy of this novel. Just as with ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher’, I was absorbed by this meticulously researched and fascinating story.

Set in 1895, we see 13 year old Robert and his younger brother, Nattie, spending money that it seems they should not have. They tell neighbours that their mother has gone to visit relatives in Liverpool, and they have been left in the care of a family friend. For ten days their behaviour is not seen as out of the ordinary. Our suspicions are raised by comments about a foul smell coming from the home and Robert pawning much-loved possessions to obtain money.

It is not until their aunt becomes suspicious and forces her way into the family home that we learn the source of the smell. The badly decomposed body of their mother is found upstairs in her bedroom, and Robert confesses to matricide.
Summerscale takes us through the trial at the Old Bailey and details of what happened next. This was packed full of information about the case, but it also included a wealth of details about life and attitudes of the time. We are told of the plea that Robert was insane, and I could not help but be shocked by the generally held beliefs about the effects of educating the poor.

When Robert is sentenced to imprisonment in Broadmoor, that could have been the end of it. What follows seems more a work of fiction, but we learn of the chance Robert was given to start a new life and the way he seizes this opportunity. This, for me, was what made the story special.

‘The Teacher’ – Katarina Diamond

The novel opens explosively with the suicide of the Headteacher of a Devon boys’ school after he receives a mysterious package, which clearly holds some meaning for him. There are more deaths, increasingly bizarre, and the reader is given clues that they are linked…somehow.

There are clear warnings about this novel not being for the faint-hearted, but I wasn’t prepared for the level of sadistic violence that was exhibited. The violence makes sense, eventually, but it is pervasive and it seemed that everyone had some deep secret or an event that had tarnished them in some way. Even people who hadn’t shown any inclination for violence are revealed to be capable of extreme cruelty.

Putting the graphic violence aside, I did struggle a little initially with the ever-changing points of view and shifting time-frames. Ultimately, this also makes sense but there are moments early on when it feels like it intrudes on the events. I was also surprised by the ending-it just felt a stretch too far, given what we know about the characters involved.

The thing that saved the novel for me was the relationship between DS Miles and DS Grey, and their resolve to uncover the truth rather than accepting the easy answer. Both traumatised by their own events, they quickly establish a working relationship that is entertaining to see. The sequencing of events and gradual revelation of details does lead to a pretty explosive climax (though you will probably guess the killer’s identity long before it’s revealed).

Not one of my favourite reads of the year so far, but it is a fairly decent example of its genre (just not really my thing).

‘Girls on Fire’ – Robin Wasserman

I received this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I have to say thank you for being given the opportunity to read such an intriguing book.

‘Girls on Fire’ focuses on the obsessive friendship between Lacey and Hannah. The novel begins with the discovery of a boy’s body in the woods. The rumour is that he killed himself, but it’s soon clear that there’s more to this case than we’re told at first.

Hannah has always been a good student. Quiet and unassuming. When she is befriended by Lacey, who has more than her fair share of problems, Hannah finds a new confidence. Together, the pair are trouble.

Initially, the style is a little disjointed. We shift viewpoints and none of the main characters seem particularly likeable. Sticking with it – and as we learn more about the situation of these teenagers it is easier to feel the allure – the skill of the plotting becomes evident. Washerman perfectly captures the obsessive nature of a lot of teenage relationships, and I loved the fact that it was set in the 1990s so I completely got a lot of the references.

By the end I have to say I wasn’t sure who to see as a victim. There were many. This was a tense and claustrophobic read that won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but it is certainly a novel to notice.

‘Black-Eyed Susans’ – Julia Heaberlin

Tessa Cartwright has always been regarded as one of the lucky ones. At sixteen she was found, barely alive, in a grave with three other unidentified bodies under a blanket of flowers. Her testimony helped put her killer behind bars, and, since then, Tessa has been pursued by the press.

As an adult, Tessa has, in some ways, put the past behind her. She has a teenage daughter and has a career as an artist. Then she is left a gift – flowers, of the type that were found in her grave, planted under her window. Tessa becomes convinced, with a short time before her convicted killer’s execution, that the wrong man has been imprisoned and that the real perpetrator of these horrific crimes remains at large.

I was really excited about this story, and was looking forward to seeing how events panned out.

The writer alternates the narrative point of view between Tessa at sixteen and Tessa in the present. This did make it quite hard work to feel how the story was moving forward at times. I never quite got the feeling of understanding the character as I would have liked, though I think this is part of the fashion for unreliable narrators. I also felt that there were one or two characters/incidents that seem to have been included simply to make the end viable.

By the end of the novel some of the details had been hinted at enough to stop it feeling completely satisfying. There were also some details about Tessa’s best friend of the time that I felt could have warranted further exploration. All in all, this promised a lot and had some good elements but it just fell short for me.