Himself acquired this ebook through Amazon First and suggested I read it due to the premise and rather clever manipulation of the viewpoint, throughout. I’m glad I did…
BLURB: Florida journalism undergrad Rebecca Sorley is like any other college student. She tries to keep up with her studies, her friends, and her hot-tempered roommate, Ellie, who regularly courts trouble with the law.
When a male student’s remains are found in alligator-infested waters, the university warns students to stay away from the reptiles. But then a second body shows up, and the link is undeniable. Both men belonged to the same fraternity and had a reputation for preying on and hurting women.
Ellie has previously threatened to kill men who don’t take no for an answer. Rebecca and her friends thought Ellie was kidding. But now a vigilante killer is roaming campus—someone who knows how to dispose of rapists. Someone determined to save female students from horrible crimes…
REVIEW: One of the major reasons I don’t read more murder mysteries, is that I dislike the casual way in which pretty young girls are horribly murdered, often after being raped or assaulted. I’m aware this is a dynamic in reality – but there are books where I find the reliance on beautiful female victims plain unpleasant. So this one really intrigued me.
The situation at this particular university, due to a nasty ongoing challenge running at one of the frat houses, is toxic. After one of their friends falls victim to an assault that leaves her in a coma, the protagonist and her friends ensure they don’t walk around the grounds unaccompanied – and even then they are liable to be harassed. And yes, I’ll freely admit that it’s an extreme premise, but no more so than some others I’ve read, recently – think of The Naturalist, for example. So I was a bit taken aback to read a string of complaining reviews accusing it of being a man-hating book, because I didn’t think men in general were Hutchison’s target. I thought it was those entitled articles who objectify women, particularly young pretty ones, and because they find them desirable, think that gives them the right to act on those urges. Having spent far too much time – from the age of twelve years old – fending off that sort of attention until I thankfully became too old, I read this one with huge enjoyment. And no, I’m not a man-hater, but I did hate it when I was busy shopping/travelling on public transport/working/walking on the beach and some stranger would intrude to tell me how beautiful I was. Or just grab.
I also enjoyed the strong supportive relationship between the young women in the book – far nearer my own experiences of female friendships than those poisonous, backstabbing instances thrillers and murder mysteries are fond of portraying. The nifty way we are given access to the murderer’s viewpoint also works well. And while I’d more or less worked out who it was by the end, I loved the clever manner in which the reveal is handled. Overall, I found this an entertaining read – and I’ll be tracking down more books by this author. Recommended for fans of murder mysteries with a bit of a difference.
9/10
Brainfluff 