Phil Lovesey

A seven-year-old boy accidentally causes the death of a friend and is so traumatised that he comes to see murder as the best solution to his problems. William Dickson has killed three other people so far and he has only just taken his A-Levels!

There seem to be so many books and films around nowadays telling stories like this that I was feeling restless as I read the first few chapters, but my interest grew as I began to realise what an unreliable narrator William is. There are things he isn't telling us, events whose importance he minimises and loose ends he leaves hanging. What did Atkins do when he got out of prison? Why did William's father leave home? Did the pub landlord and his wife really die in a fire in Spain? What happened in the graveyard? It has been mentioned several times and each time it sounds a little worse than the last.

And what about the things in his past that he has forgotten while in a coma after being attacked in the street? Who is Dr. Tremaine and what is his importance? It seems unlikely that such a traumatised child would not have seen a child psychologist after his friend's death, so maybe that's who he is. I think that the authorities know more than William realises, or maybe he does remember and he is keeping us in the dark deliberately.

I was reading this book for an online book club, and posted the comments above when I had read chapters 1 to 10. By that point I was completely hooked and looking forward to finding out what was really going on! Although I have finished the book now, I am not going to add anything else, to avoid spoiling what was a very surprising story.… (meer)

William Dixon is a very mixed-up lad - and as well he might be. Victim of a childhood trauma he struggles to understand the tricks his mind is playing on him as he grows up. His subconscious strives to protect his sense of self by constructing a series of bizarre and vivid false memories. These are so powerful that they seem quite real and indistinguishable from normal experience.

As events unfold, real and imaginary happenings become intertwined in a horrifying way. The narrative becomes dark and unsettling; William's experiences prompting the reader to ponder the validity of his or her own memory. The question being how can we obtain verification and acceptance of personal recollection? What happens when our version of events, our sense of reality and therefore of who we really are, do not match up with that of others?

The book's clear, easy-going and matter of fact style hides a menacing and disturbing undercurrent of self-doubt and existential confusion. William's powerful and devious subconscious is frequently personified by the author.

This is British crime-writing that is philosophical and open-ended. A book which after reading it makes you think, encourages doubt and leaves an uneasy, lingering tingliness long after the final pages have been turned.… (meer)