What I Would Do to You
Ratings1
Average rating4
15
Ratings1
Average rating4
In a near-future Australia, the death penalty is back. But if the victim's family wants the perpetrator to die, they have to do it themselves. Twenty-four hours alone in a room with the condemned. No cameras. No microphones. Just whatever punishment they decide befits the crime. Ten-year-old Lucy was murdered in bushland adjoining her family farm. Through counselling sessions with their court-appointed psychologist we learn the stories of her family members, Lucy's two mothers, Stella and Matisse, her much older brother and her bookish teenage sister, who is too young to participate in the execution, but who has plans of her own. Tensions build as the family discover secrets about each other that threaten to drive them further apart than grief already has. As the execution date nears, already-struggling Stella remains adamant that she must carry out the punishment. But it becomes clear that if she steps into that room, the family may lose her too. What would you do?
Reviews with the most likes.
Okay, I just finished it this evening.
I won't say it's a must read. I will say that it's a very intriguing psychological story.
I'm pleased I've read it. I don't think I'll be recommending it to everyone - purely because it just won't be everybody's cup of tea.
I did find myself, up till about 1/3 of the way through, reminding myself that it is the author's first book.
I think the fairest way to describe it would be to say that it's a book with an incredible, and scarily all-too-real premise, that takes such a deep and painful idea (both the child murder, and the concept of families meting out justice), and finds itself as the story progresses.
Each of the characters take a little time to really find their individual colours, but once they do, it's the depth of character, pain and nuances with their interactions - along with the deeply moral conflict - that drive the story.
I'm not sure that ‘enjoyed' is the right way to describe my feeling about having read it, but I am very pleased that I have done.
