review by showhost
Finalist in ‘John Creasey Dagger Award’ in
the Specsavers Crime thriller Awards for best first novel 2010. Fav author is Cormac McCarthy.
The book has a very unusual style. I had to re-read the first page before I got
the gyst of it. We learn at the outset
that a teacher shoots 3 pupils, a colleague and himself. As far as the police are concerned the
teacher, Samuel, was a psychopath, it was a tragedy that could not have been
predicted. So get the statements, write the report & wrap up the case with
out fuss. Lucia May is the policewoman
assigned to the case.
The story opens with a monologue. It is a one sided interview with a
pupil. We read the answers not the
questions. Lucia May interviews 15
people, children & adults, teachers pupils & parents. All the interviews are written in this
monologue style. They are interspersed
with a normal narrative when Lucia isn’t interviewing, when she is back at the
police station or with friends.
What comes out of the interviews is the abuse
the perpetrator suffers at the hands of pupils & bullying from colleagues
and you actually start to feel sorry for him
You feel it almost justifies what he did.
At the time of the shooting thee is a pupil
from the same school recovering in hospital after a brutal attack. An attack which happened outside of school
but the attackers were possibly fellow pupils.
Institutionalised bullying runs through the story, including Lucia. Parents almost accept it as something they
have to live with. The headmaster is
portrayed as someone who makes the colleagues & pupils stronger ‘Get on
with it lad’, stiff upper lip’.
The interviews are cleverly constructed
& the voices portray the character of each person, painting a picture of them
in your mind. Some of the revelations
are shocking.
I found it a good, unusual book. It would be very good for a book group
discussion as it certainly raises questions and makes you want to talk about it
& definietly gets a reaction from the reader (at least it did this one).
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