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Speak of the Devil

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It would, personally, have worked better if the only POV we had was the detective’s, if we didn’t know anything about any of the other characters or their movements. Then, perhaps, there would have been some tension in it all. Because they all have motives, that’s kind of the point. But a more conventional framing of seven suspects and they’re all lying would have probably been a lot more thrilling. stars Thank you to St Martins Publishing Group Influencer Program and Minotaur Books for the free gifted book. This ARC publishes June 13, 2023. Next up were easily the powerful topics central to the book. Between questioning religion, the impact of impossible childhoods, and LGBTQ+ bias/bigotry, the depth of the plot was truly startling. I could easily see how such a manipulative man was able to harm these seven women so profoundly. Described in a way to both elucidate this fact but also draw out my empathy, the writing perfectly walked a line between the two. A propulsive and complexly layered story...Fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware won’t want to miss this one." – Nora Murphy, author of The Favor The mystery was sound and everyone had a valid motive. The thing I struggled with the most was that, while we saw all the awful things Jamie did, I didn’t think the author gave us enough of a glimpse into what actually made these ladies LIKE him so much. Obviously there were some reason everyone fell in love with him but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Overall, I wish I could’ve gotten to know all the characters better, but the sheer number of them and the constant jumps between timeframes made it somewhat hard for me to fully engage. That being said, the 2nd half of the book gelled for me better than the first half. I liked the ending- it was abrupt but it worked.

How about the oldest? After all, Maureen’s known Jamie the longest as she quite literally raised him from his very first breath. Was it their shared past that sent them hurtling down this road? We’d argue, however, that the main character is the book’s setting – the streets of Newcastle. ‘I love the North East. I think it’s such a brilliant and beautiful place and it has so much of its own character,’ says Rose. ‘I knew with these seven women that some of them would need to coincidentally know each other and Newcastle is such a good place for that. Plus, Newcastle is so often overlooked. In my head when I was writing it was always Newcastle but I was never really naming anywhere to begin with. Jeannette said if I was going to set it here, then I needed to give the setting its own character. I didn’t know how to do that but it all came together, and when my editor first read it she said “it’s a love letter to Newcastle”, and I was so glad it had worked.’ At the same time, however, this was anything but a mystery/thriller and more along the lines of women’s lit or general fiction. After all, there was nary a twist and very little suspense. I mean, I surmised the perpetrator nearly from the get-go and not a single red herring even made me second guess that for a second. And, while there was something that possibly could have been considered a climax, it was anything but pulse pounding or steeped in tension, instead offering more of a “here’s what happened” vibe.As the narrative progresses we get to know more about each of these women, how their stories intersect with the deceased, the events that led to their being in the hotel room with Jamie’s decapitated head, and what transpires in the two weeks following that fateful night as the women try to maintain their innocence. Complicating matters further is the fact that the investigator in charge of the case has a history with one of the women in question. Jamie (the murder victim) is an absolute monster with no redeeming qualities at all. This makes it exceptionally easy to cheer for the woman who killed him, even when we don’t yet know who it is. I loved how Wilding adds accents and slang to the conversations, bringing the Scottish brogues out in the supporting characters without making the language hard to understand. Finally, there’s Kaysha, the journalist who brought this group together from day one. But what is her place in the fold? Was she merely trying to root out a truly bad man? Or is her involvement actually much deeper than that?

The story begins on New Year’s Eve,1999 with seven women in a hotel room sitting in a semicircle with a severed head in their midst. The head belongs to Jamie Spellman a man who is no stranger to any of them. Each of these women has been wronged by him in some way and they have been plotting to get their revenge but decapitating him wasn’t quite what they had planned. None of them is aware of who amongst them is responsible for the same but each of them harbors suspicions of who it might be. However, they are not interested in outing the culprit and focus on covering up the crime and protecting one another.

Featured Reviews

The story opens with the discovery of the decapitated head of Jamie by a group of seven women with ties to the victim on New Year’s Eve 1999. We learn about Jamie’s connection to each of the women and the history that they share throughout the book. We do also see the police detective’s perspective as we work our way through the story. It was quite a few characters to juggle but each of them had such unique personalities that I had no trouble keeping things straight. It was obvious that all of the women had the motive but I wasn’t sure who the murderer was until it was revealed in the story. The seven women, including the one female policewoman, are clearly defined in nature and appearance and are all very different, although their hurt and anger about Jamie is evenly spread across them all. The woman detective finds it hard to be impartial but finds herself slowly feeling as outraged as the rest of them. This book started out with a bang, with 7 women gathering around the severed head of a man they all knew. After that, though, I felt there were too many characters and too little detail to get to really get to know them. The rest of the store gives you glimpses into each of the women and their reasons for hating Jamie while the reader, along with the detective, tries to figure out what happened. Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the DRC of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The women’s] stories converge in a way that will appeal to Kate Atkinson’s readers…This debut author is one to watch.” – FirstCLUE

They took their usual seats around a makeshift alter in the center of the room, where under a pillowcase was the severed head of a man they all knew.The narrative keeps alternating between the seven women, and in addition to their name being listed at the start of a chapter-it would have been VERY HELPFUL to list their connection to Jamie as well. Examples: Kaysha, the journalist, Ana, the colleague, etc. I do recommend reading this book, as it held my interest and was very interesting. I could relate to that of Jamie Spellman (because unfortunately we all know some nasty people). I could also relate to each of the women as their stories felt so real and emotional. To all my GR friends that are worried that this book might be too much for them, it is labeled as General Fiction- and rightfully so (maybe with a hint of suspense). The book plays about with time, and necessitates a regrouping now and again to sort out where the reader is in the timeline of the story. This does seem a popular thing to do at the moment, and I do not like it, but it takes only seconds to arrange your mind and you are on your way again and following the story. Or what about the youngest? Still just a child, Josie finds herself in an unrecognizable reality after following her teenage hormones towards a forbidden crush. Could she possibly be behind this gruesome crime? A group of some of the women he has humiliated arrange a meeting to discuss how they could put a stop to his activities. They meet in the shabby upstairs room of a local pub and, on entry, are faced with the horror of the decapitated head of Jamie on the floor. They know the killer is likely to be one of them, as they are all his victims, so they begin the search, alongside Detective Inspector Nova Stokoe.

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