Real Easy
a bold, mesmerising and unflinching thriller featuring three unforgettable women
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3.7 • 69 Ratings
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
'Very possibly the best crime fiction book since Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects' Neel Mukherjee
Three Women meets Tana French in a compulsive, unflinching and unexpectedly hopeful thriller set in a midwestern strip club.
'Gritty, glittery and pulsing with life' Sara Sligar
'Bold, compelling, brutal and brilliant' Chris Whitaker
It's 1999, and Samantha has danced for years at the Lovely Lady strip club.
She's not used to taking anyone under her wing - after all, between her disapproving boyfriend and his daughter, who may as well be her own child, she has enough to worry about. But when Samantha overrides her better judgment to drive a new dancer home, they are run off the road. The police arrive at the scene of the accident - but find only one body.
Georgia, another dancer, is drawn into the investigation as she tries to assist Holly, a detective with a complicated story of her own. As the point of view shifts from police officers and detectives to club patrons, the women circle around a list of suspects, all the while grappling with their own understanding of loss and love.
As they get closer to the truth they must each confront a fundamental question:
How do women live their lives knowing that men can hurt them?
⭐ ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐
'A suspenseful, beautifully written story' Reader review
'Possibly the only thriller I've read that's made me cry at the end' Reader review
'A difficult one to put down. I highly recommend it' Reader review
'My favourite thriller published in years . . . unique and character driven' Reader review
'A stellar debut . . . fascinating' Reader review
'A well written and carefully plotted mystery with flawed, captivating characters . . . a must read! Reader review
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The superb adult-fiction debut from YA author Marie Rutkoski follows the manhunt after one dancer at Illinois club The Lovely Lady is murdered and another goes missing. This is a thriller that explores a number of troubled personalities on all sides of the investigation—and if that doesn’t strike you as a radical twist on the genre, Rutkoski shapes her characters with such rich authenticity and detail, and builds her plot with such precise tension, it’s impossible not to become completely immersed from the very first page. Real Easy is as much a very sharp treatise on power, loyalty and exploitation as it is a gritty and expertly written mystery.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
YA and children's author Rutkoski (The Kronos Chronicles) makes her adult debut with a haunting crime novel. Victor Amador, a police detective in an unnamed state, is hoping for a quiet overtime shift when he gets a call to investigate a report of an abandoned car in a ditch. When he responds, he finds blood and, eventually, the corpse of a woman who worked at a nearby strip club. The exact cause of death isn't immediately clear, but the coroner finds date-rape drugs in the woman's system, and the figure of a crown was carved into the sole of one foot. Amador investigates, with the help of colleague Holly Meylin, who is still traumatized by her infant's accidental death due to her ex-husband's negligence. Rutkoski uses the familiar plot of a police search for a killer targeting women to paint moving portraits of desperate lives on both sides of the law. She's especially good at making the strippers more than clichés. Fans of psychologically rich thrillers will hope for more from Rutkoski.
Customer Reviews
Alright!
By the time I was half way through I was bored! Near the end it gets good, but it’s kinda too late at that point! Also, way too many names/characters to keep track of! Got way too confusing smh the author even had to provide hints!
Top-quality writing
This is a very clever story, with lots of rich detail that makes it interesting and believable, along with characters that you feel you really get to know. Highly recommended for anyone who likes crime thrillers.