Keeper
The breath-taking literary thriller
-
-
4.0 • 5 Ratings
-
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
'A fabulous new writer' Richard Osman
'Compelling, tense and pacy' Observer
-------------
HE LOVES YOU. HE CONTROLS YOU. HE'LL NEVER LET YOU GO.
He's been looking in the windows again. Messing with cameras. Leaving notes.
Supposed to be a refuge. But death got inside.
When Katie Straw's body is pulled from the waters of the local suicide spot, the police decide it's an open-and-shut case. A standard-issue female suicide.
But the residents of Widringham women's refuge where Katie worked don't agree. They say it's murder.
Will you listen to them?
An addictive literary page-turner about a crime as shocking as it is commonplace, KEEPER will leave you reeling long after the final page is turned.
AN OBSERVER TOP DEBUT NOVELISTS OF 2020
A SUNDAY TIMES STYLE HOT DEBUT: 'READ IF YOU LIKED GONE GIRL AND LULLABY'
A COSMOPOLITAN BOOKS TO WATCH
-------------
'Gripping, devastating... breathtaking' Clare Mackintosh, Hostage
'Powerful and chilling, with a shocking twist' Guardian
'A compelling story . . . a writer to watch' Independent
'A feminist whodunnit' Sunday Times
'A powerful book telling stories that need to be heard' Rosamund Lupton, Three Hours
'A new young writer I believe in' Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit
'Extraordinary and compelling' Cara Hunter, The Whole Truth
'Vastly impressive . . . Deeply affecting and superbly told, it demands to be read' Daily Mail
'Jess Moor's debut novel made me want to shout out in anger' Val McDermid, 1979
'This is a thriller, but its pacy insights make it one that you need to read' Cosmopolitan
'A pacy crime novel that will have you gripped, and get you thinking' Stylist
'Grips from the first page' Erin Kelly, Watch Her Fall
Customer Reviews
Playing for keeps
3.5 stars
Author
British. Did English at Cambridge followed by a Creative Writing MA at Manchester. Prior to this, she spent a year working in the violence against women and girls sector. I know violence against women and girls is a big issue, but I wasn't aware it had become a sector. This, her debut novel, is described as "the addictive literary thriller everyone's talking about this (Northern) spring."
Plot
Young woman becomes enmeshed in relationship with dude who seems caring and considerate at first but turns out to be abusive and controlling. She sheds her previous identity and finds work at a women's refuge in a small fictional town in northern England. Then she gets dead. It looks like suicide, but is it? The coppers are suspicious someone offed her, and the chick who runs the refuge is convinced of it. Investigation follows.
Narrative
Conventional 'now' and 'then' third person narrative: police investigation of Katie's death alternating with how she got enmeshed with Jamie back in the day. More polemic than thriller. The twist at the end was a cheap shot IMHO.
Characters
Heart rending personal stories of various women, including the protagonist. The older copper is not a bad guy, and realises he should be more motivated to solve the case, but he's tired and looking forward to retirement.
Prose
Crisp, clear, well-paced in the main. Easy to read, if derivative.
Bottom line
Domestic violence and abuse are hot topics at present, as they should be, and this seems to cover all the bases. Trouble is, a number of other novelists already have. In The Darkest Corner (2007) by Elisabeth Haynes comes to mind.