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Speak of the Devil: The most addictive feminist thriller of the year

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Like I said, if you've watched Bad Sisters, this is a similar premise, but without as much humor and heart. The series is infinitely better, so if you haven't watched it you're missing out. Hmmm… Going in, I was incredibly intrigued by the premise of Speak of the Devil . A story of women taking revenge against a vile man? Count me in. Unfortunately, the reality just didn’t match the idea, and it ultimately left me wanting and unimpressed by this promising debut. Very localized writing - as a Canadian I was a bit confused with some of the lingo, but I enjoyed trying to figure it out! Lots of characters to keep you interested and I was determined to figure out who the killer was - but nope! I always have time for a whodunit, and I also love the cover so much - the gorgeous blue with the seven birds - love it. This is Wilding’s debut novel, and I’ll be watching for her in the future!

The blurb reads: “In a seedy Newcastle room on New Year’s Eve, 1999, seven women are gathered around a man’s severed head. Each has a very good reason to have done it, each swears she did not. As we follow the women – the wife, the teenager, the ex, the journalist, the colleague, the friend, and the woman who raised him and the detective trying to solve the case – we discover how they came to know, love and ultimately despise the man who has wound up dead. But who killed Jamie Spellman?”Chandler said: “It’s rare to find a book where the plot is as compelling as the writing is dazzling and which has important things to say about women’s lives, across age, race and sexuality without ever forgetting that totally believable characters are what drives a novel. It is also a novel suffused with moments of joy, connection and empathy; a love letter to Newcastle and to ordinary people finding ways to navigate vibrant, messy lives.”

This book was not what I expected, but that’s okay because I still enjoyed it. The first chapter of this story starts off with seven women sitting around a severed head. I thought this was going to be a gory, gross book- but it didn’t turn out to be anything like that at all. Yes, a head without a body is definitely stomach turning, but what we try to find out through this story is which woman would behead that of Jamie Spellman (the deceased)? A devilishly immersive read – Rose Wilding is a wonderful new talent’ Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire On the last night of 1999, seven women are gathered together in a rundown hotel. Once assembled in a forgotten suite, the women come face to face with the cold, decapitated head of Jamie Spellman. Each of them have reasons to want him dead—but which one of them actually went through with with the deed? A powerful feminist thriller . . . twisted in the best way' Clémence Michallon, author of The Quiet Tenant

Author

I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this was a well-done mystery that was nearly impossible to set aside. I thought that this was a great debut novel and look forward to reading more of this author’s work in the future. I thought that this was really good! I enjoyed getting to know each of the seven women at the core of this book and it was quite clear that each of them had the motive to kill Jamie. Jamie was not a good man. In fact, he was pretty terrible, and the things that he did to each of these women left me feeling a lot of sympathy for them. I loved that the book kept me guessing until the very end. Overall, "Speak of the Devil" is a thought-provoking and disturbing novel that sheds light on the hardships endured by women. Despite some minor issues with character clarity, the book captivates readers with its raw storytelling and unflinching exploration of dark themes. Recommended. First off, I found this extremely interesting, the content and topics explored. However, I also found the construction of the story to be a bit jarring. There are a lot of characters and you get all of their perspectives. The narrative jumps around a lot, not only via perspective, but also in time.

The book plays about with time, and necessitates a regrouping now and again to sort out where the reader is in the timeline of the story. This does seem a popular thing to do at the moment, and I do not like it, but it takes only seconds to arrange your mind and you are on your way again and following the story. When the women had arrived fifteen minutes earlier, the head was covered by a pillowcase. They’d all taken their usual seats, all frowned at the makeshift altar in the center of the room, all wrinkled their nose at the smell of rot and pennies. There was no small talk, but Josie had asked what was under the pillowcase. When no one answered, Sarah stood and pulled the pillowcase off with a flourish, rolling her eyes, only for them to widen when she revealed what was underneath. Some of the women had screamed. The story begins on New Year’s Eve,1999 with seven women in a hotel room sitting in a semicircle with a severed head in their midst. The head belongs to Jamie Spellman a man who is no stranger to any of them. Each of these women has been wronged by him in some way and they have been plotting to get their revenge but decapitating him wasn’t quite what they had planned. None of them is aware of who amongst them is responsible for the same but each of them harbors suspicions of who it might be. However, they are not interested in outing the culprit and focus on covering up the crime and protecting one another. A group of some of the women he has humiliated arrange a meeting to discuss how they could put a stop to his activities. They meet in the shabby upstairs room of a local pub and, on entry, are faced with the horror of the decapitated head of Jamie on the floor. They know the killer is likely to be one of them, as they are all his victims, so they begin the search, alongside Detective Inspector Nova Stokoe. scorned women. One evil, manipulative man who happens to be missing his head. Which one of these women could have done it? And why?!

Further info

They took their usual seats around a makeshift alter in the center of the room, where under a pillowcase was the severed head of a man they all knew.

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