Junior sleuths have always been a mainstay in children's fiction, from the crime-busting gang in all-time German classic "Emil And The Detectives"(1929) to Enid Blyton's "Famous Five" who are referenced in this novel. They are also a significant force in adult fiction from Mark Haddon's modern classic "The Curious Incident Of The Dog At Nightime" (2003), Joanna Cannon's "Trouble With Goats And Sheep" (2014), Alan Bradleys' Flavia De Luce series, the impressive urban Indian tale "Djinn Patrol On The Purple Line" by Deepa Anaparra (2020) and certainly not forgetting Catherine O'Flynn's ten year old detective Kate in the outstanding "What Was Lost" (2007) for me pretty much a benchmark for this type of novel. There's countless others I could add to this list because there is much appeal in the adolescent viewpoint of the adult world and adding to that list meet Miv, the twelve year old main character in this solid debut novel.
This sparky heroine is pitched against real life crime, the Yorkshire Ripper, and it begins in 1979. Seeing the concerns of adults and worried if the events will drive her family from her home environment and away from best friend Sharon the girls hatch a plan to discover the identity of the Yorkshire Ripper themselves and use a notebook to record individuals who arouse their suspicions in their neighbourhood. This is a fascinating premise- the reader can see the potential in this plot immediately.
And it is done well. Miv's first person narrative is interspersed with third-person viewpoints of characters who at some point appear on Miv's list. I must admit these switches from first to third person jar a little but it gives a valuable perspective on the youngster's misconstruing of events. As a character, Miv is great, on the cusp of entry into the adult world of secrets and things that should not be talked about exemplified by the difficult situation within her own family. Early on, there's some incidental moments which really get the feel of the times, the school playground Kiss Chase is replaced by a dark playground chase game because of the Ripper killings. For me, it is when the novel settles into the sleuthing that it comes to feel a little one-note and I'm not sure I totally bought into the Yorkshire depicted by the author and there were a couple of questionable motives behind actions. The darker territory the novel hovers around -the Ripper's crimes, racial tensions and mental health issues didn't always meld smoothly with Miv's tale and I am aware that we are seeing much from the child's viewpoint but I think if the darkness was a little darker and the lightness lighter we would have had something outstanding.
I certainly enjoyed this and it will win many fans and I think it would be a splendid book group choice as the setting and premise of the novel will provide much discussion. I'm not sure, despite twists towards the end which I certainly didn't see coming if this will continue to resonate in the way that some of the young detective novels I mentioned at the top of this review do.
The List Of Suspicious Things is published by Hutchinson Heinemann on 15th February 2024. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.
No comments:
Post a Comment