... being part of a group of women who had decided to take action against one man, who had in some way harmed them all, felt like all women finally taking a stand. It felt like something big was coming, and coupled with the approach of the new millenium, she couldn't help but feel shook up, overwhelmed by anticipation and joy at what she thought was the beginning of a new era for women. [loc. 2183]
On the evening of 31st December 1999, seven women are summoned to 'the usual place'. There, they discover the decapitated head of a man they all knew; a man they all had reason to wish dead. Jamie has beguiled each of them in different ways: the pregnant teenager who thinks he's going to leave his wife for her, the aunt who raised him, the friend who's stood up for him when she wondered if she should, the woman who loved him despite her daughter's mistrust, the journalist he raped, the mother of his child, his wife ... One of them killed him: one of them delivered his head to this hotel room, with the snake sigil clumsily painted on the wallpaper.
An eighth woman, Nova, is a police detective, in a relationship with one of the suspects (but also with another woman who's less ... complicated). Her investigations, and Jamie's victims' memories and reactions, form the bulk of the novel. Set in and around Newcastle in the 1990s, Speak of the Devil evokes that time and place with a wealth of detail. The eight female protagonists (at least three of whom are queer) are distinctive characters, with idiosyncrasies of speech and behaviour. This was a very readable thriller, and I didn't guess the identity of the murderer until near the end. If there's a flaw, it's that we never get inside Jamie's (decapitated) head: we don't know what made him a narcissist, a psychopath, a monster. But though he's central to the action, it's not really about him at all.
Trigger warnings for violence, suicide, sexual abuse, rape.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK publication date is 22nd June 2023.
No comments:
Post a Comment