uniquely riveting

I really liked this story. It took me a while to get on with the woman's voice but I ended up thinking it suited her character so much. I liked how raw and honest it was with unexpected twists and turns. Would definitely read more from this author!

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Weird hybrid

A strange book that’s neither fish nor fowl. The blurb suggests it’s a serial killer crime story, but for the majority of the book the murders are just a sketchy background thread. Instead, this novel is really a study of the life of its protagonist.

We first meet Deborah as a shy, unpopular, put-upon teenager navigating her dull, lonely existence and grieving the loss of her mother. The appearance of Larry, a confident and good looking 20-something changes her world beyond recognition, and we follow the oddly mismatched couple into married adulthood and increasingly murky, questionable life choices.

The psychological portrait of Deborah is compelling, as her co-dependent relationship with her husband becomes more insular and sinister - even as she is gradually revealed to be an unreliable narrator with a capacity for moral ambiguity and sudden, dark impulses.

The audio narrator is brilliant at giving voice to Deborah, but it’s a shame some of the other characterisations - mostly the men - fall short. Larry is particularly distracting, as he appears to be Toast of London, and Dee’s arch nemesis, Mark, sounds closer to a suave Bond villain than the boorish, working class bully he’s clearly supposed to be.

There were some evocative passages (being an 80s teen, living in poverty, domestic abuse, postnatal depression), but in the end I was left wondering what the point of the whole thing was. The denouement was really not a surprise at all and the story seemed to amount to a description of damaged, unpleasant, dysfunctional people living a dull, grinding life and doing horrible things.

Throughout there are lots of none-too-subtle nods to the life and crimes of a certain grisly Gloucestershire couple, which begs the question: why the need for a fictionalised version of people whose vile acts and psychological co-dependency are already so well documented?

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What a gem!

This book had me hooked from the start and kept me entertained until the very end.
I usually guess the twist or the predictable ending to whatever audiobook Im listening to - not this time, which was a nice change. Little bonus shocker at the end too!

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Right to the very end,

This is not really my kind of book, I like crime books but with nothing to read, plus I saw a couple of good reviews I thought why not!!

Excellent book, narrator not bad,overall worth reading!

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Fred and Rose vibes

Feel like I've heard this story before though this is set in Cambridge, not Gloucester

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basically a Rose and Fred West story

I actually liked this story a lot. And a real good twist at the end. Definitely worth a listen.

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Omg.

I did not expect that you'll understand what I mean if you listen to this story. definitely worth a listen.

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Absolutely brilliant

Great story ,wonderful narrator, edge of seat listening, could not put it down
i highly recommend this book

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4 people found this helpful

A bit too graphic

I listened to this book over a couple of days so it was a quick listen. I agree with the other reviewers regarding graphic descriptions of murder and assault. Narration was a bit dull in the beginning but it got better after a couple of chapters. I liked the twist at the end, although it was predictable around the middle of the book it was still written well.

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Not great…

By far the least likeable protagonist I have ever read. Absolutely zero redeeming qualities, so much so I was rooting for her downfall from the first chapter

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