Overall, a very self-aware novel with vivid characters and an interesting take on true crime as a genre - I would highly recommend getting this on your 'to be read' list for next year! Roach feels Laura is as interested in the morbid and macabre as she is even though Laura’s contempt for Roach is obvious but she is determined to know everything about her life regardless of the consequences. This was a deliciously dark crime novel intertwining true crime with bookselling. I personally think that this executed bookselling PERFECTLY and it was such a joy to read a book that spoke about it so well and accurately, as well as hilariously. Along side this, the discussions of true crime and the obsessiveness of some that consume it was incredibly fascinating and seeing how it completely took a tole on Roach and every aspect of her career and life, was something I had never read before and would now, be intrigued to branch more into. And the unease with which they circle one another coupled with their conflicting opinions on True Crime really injected a sinister layer of tension that had me on edge wondering what would happen next. Wigan learns of the collaborator's death only when in the end the killer confesses to the second crime (which he does spontaneously, in fact Wigan only investigates the first murder), inconceivable!

The story revolves around Sergeant Wigan, a policeman by vocation but also a bibliophile who is discovering the joys of tracing and buying first editions. When one of his book selling friends is found murdered with a very costly first edition missing from his shelves, Wigan is temporarily attached to the team investigating the murder. And as curiosity blooms into morbid obsession, Roach becomes determined to be a part of Laura’s story – whether Laura wants her in it or not. I think Slater's execution of Brodie as a character is so well done. Again, I don't want to give too many details here so I don't ruin the book, but she is terrifying and pitiful, a brilliant antagonist force. Character work in general here is very fine. Sometimes Roach sounds like such an insufferable not-like-other-girls, sometimes Laura sounds like a tryhard London literary type – there are points where both of them will make you roll your eyes. Yet as dark as Roach’s story gets, it’s hard not to extend compassion to her, because the narrative is always extending compassion to her too. It’s the same thing with Laura: she’s often an absolute mess, and we see how her behaviour parallels Roach’s in ways she’d no doubt be reluctant to admit – but we get why. If at first it seems clear that Roach is the dark and Laura the light, somewhere along the line both characters are painted such similar shades of grey that they blend and bleed into each other.

This is such a fantastic book, dripping with malice and tension. It is a dark journey into obsession. The pop culture references and dark humour throughout make this an engrossing and enjoyable read. The story will get under your skin and make you itch. Told in alternating POV between the two characters in short snappy chapters. They both work in a neglected dilapidated bookshop. Laura, even her name exudes sighs of happiness, and sun-drenched blondness - a Pumpkin Spice Girl if there ever was one, now works at the same chain bookstore as Roach. Laura was equally not my favorite character. She was hard to like. Her life was spiraling, too, and she did take some of the parts of her life for granted, how easy they were, even though her life wasn't easy.

Alice Slater also does such an incredible job at balancing the serious and imperative with the humorous commentary. The book in its entirety is both unsettling, focusing on true crime, real cases, statistics and conversations on Roach's fascination with serial killers, as-well as hilarious and full of bookselling jokes and knowledge. It made for both a deeply humorous yet deeply compelling read! The PERFECT amount of fun!a good and nice man who however wants to summon the devil... well, for me it is a contradiction that is not acceptable.