Penance

2.5 stars

I was so hyped for this book but it ended up not really working for me.

Whilst I liked what the book was looking at (obsession with true crime, toxic friendships, teenage bullying, online fandoms, etc), and the mixed formats which I always enjoy, I didn't like the way it was structured.

The book is written as if its a non-fiction book written by another author, this part didn't bother me until the very last few pages when he is interviewed and basically admits to fabricating a lot of what was in his book, making the whole thing pointless. I really dislike an ending like this.

The book is also split into 4 main parts, relating to the 4 girls involved in the case, each part exhaustively covers their upbringing, lifestyle, friendship groups then gets to the actual night of the murder. This could work in an actual documentary but by part 3 it felt repetitive and made the book feel so slow and long.

Perhaps this is my own fault, I much prefer listening to nonfiction and whilst this is a fiction book, it's written in a nonfiction style so would have worked better for me on audio.