My Review of A Place To Lie by Rebecca Griffiths

My Review:

This is a deliciusly disturbing read as Rebecca Griffiths plunges us straight into the action from the gripping opening line: 'She knows she's in trouble the moment she steps into the street.' It's a tense sibilant start and there's no let up, it's a relentless plunge into the depravity of human beings in all its various guises and had me biting my nails until the end. Griffiths tantalises the reader with a proliferation of suspects for a crime that she has yet to reveal. We know something happens and we know it affects young girls' lives, so we can't help but see all of the men as possible suspects. This is deftly enhanced by the biased or naive narrators. Griffiths really made me think about how hard it must be to be a man and have every interaction with young girls scrutinised and potentially misunderstood by others. 

Griffiths also expertly captures the angst of being a teenage girl in the excruciatingly awkward first flush of puberty when your body morphs into something unrecognisable and alien. Throw family trauma and pre pubescent insecurities into the mix and it's obvious to the reader that this will not end well. Again Griffiths teases and traumatises the reader by keeping us waiting for the cataclysmic event. And yet when it does occur it is surprisingly unexpected and horrific.

Cleverly, instead of adding respite by alternating between the present day and the fateful summer of 1990, the anithesis is achieved with a present day anxiety as to Joanna's safety both now and in the past. I don't think that I'll be visiting the Forest of Dean anytime soon!

Thank you Anne Cater for inviting me to review this book.