The List of Suspicious Things
By Jennie Godfrey
The List of Suspicious Things is ideal for Book Clubs and independent reading. It’s a fascinating and dark time of the 1970’s in politics and one of the most infamous serial killers to hit Yorkshire, but also a chance to reminisce with the fashions of the day in this emotive book. Find out more in the blurb and then my review below.
Thanks first to Penguin Randomhouse/Cornerstone for the book in-exchange of an honest review.
Yorkshire, 1979
Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, drainpipe jeans are in, and Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family Down South.
Because of the murders.
Leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn’t an option, no matter the dangers lurking round their way; or the strangeness at home that started the day Miv’s mum stopped talking.
Perhaps if she could solve the case of the disappearing women, they could stay after all?
So, Miv and Sharon decide to make a list: a list of all the suspicious people and things down their street. People they know. People they don’t.
But their search for the truth reveals more secrets in their neighbourhood, within their families – and between each other – than they ever thought possible.
What if the real mystery Miv needs to solve is the one that lies much closer to home?
THE PERFECT DEBUT NOVEL TO DISCUSS IN BOOK CLUBS
Review
The book whisks readers back to Margaret Thatcher’s 1970’s Britain and the bleak time of the Yorkshire Ripper, when women were terrified, and rightly so.
The List of Suspicious Things is told through the eyes of Miv. She’s a kid on a mission to solve the murders. She and great friend, Sharon decide to make a list of people they find suspicious. They’re typical kids who know the news, taken it to heart and curiosity gets to them as they try, in their own wee way to help to solve the case. As time passes by, as shown in the chapters, you can see her begin to grow-up.
The strength of friendships and community binds this book tightly together in an uplifting way that weaves through the darker themes as the 1970’s rumbles on and Sutcliffe is on the loose. I read it with an understanding of how the 1970’s was and I feel that’s the best way to read it as there are of course a number of things that aren’t so easily acceptable these days. It keeps it real and that’s a great quality for this particular book. For many, there will be an air of nostalgia, some of which continued through to the 80’s and 90’s like fruity lipgloss/balms, styles of jeans etc.
The author, Jennie Godfrey makes the 1970’s come to life, whether you lived through them or not. I did not and that did not matter. I felt transported there, through her thorough and beautiful way of writing as you navigate your way through twists and turns, discovering secrets, a pulling together of community, friendship and trends.
ANNA E. COLLINS is a Seattle-area author who writes stories about the lives and loves of women. Once upon a time she was a teacher with a master’s degree in educational psychology. Nowadays, plotting fiction and raising humans are her main pursuits. Find her (and her canine sidekick) on Instagram, @aeccreates.
Maggie Bird is a lot of things. A chicken farmer. A courteous neighbor. And a seemingly average 60-year-old woman living a quiet life in bucolic Purity, Maine. She attends a weekly book club where she drinks martinis (stirred, not shaken) with her other retired friends. She’s a darned good rifle shot. And she never talks about her past.
International bestselling author TESS GERRITSEN began to write fiction whilst on maternity leave as a physician. She published her first novel in 1987 and has since sold over forty million copies of her books in forty countries.
Bookmarks and Stages by Lou 