Some survive because they deceive, some because they delude themselves. Others refuse to engage with reality.
The Appeal
by Janice Hallett
Genre: Murder Mystery
About: Through a series of letters, emails and texts, two law students must unravel the truth behind a murder case that happened inside of a close-knit small town. But although the community band together in amateur theatre and charity events, secrets, lies and grudges are at the heart of its people, and one of them is a murderer.
The Good
This is a gripping read and feels fresh in the way the mystery slowly unravels. It isn't new to have excepts of emails or other media formats in a novel, but I've never read one that is a series of excepts for the entirety of 400+ pages. In a way, it's as though we never meet any of the characters or see any of the events but this is a fantastic way to force gaps in the reader's knowledge and make us not quite sure what to make of any given character. Can you build a fair picture of someone who you've only read private messages from? Would you view any of your friends or family differently if you gained access to their private correspondence? It's such an interesting way to create a wide variety of suspects and keep the guessing game going. Hallett layers mystery after mystery, with our law students not even knowing it's a murder case or who has been murdered until more than halfway through the book.
The Bad
I think I would have liked more clearly defined sections. There are no chapters, the story isn't divided into parts, it's a series of correspondents with lots of characters and multiple mysteries to keep track of. We do get the intersections of the law students and their boss who summarise or make theories as we go along, but I didn't always love these as sometimes it was obvious they were going down the wrong track. Although I could see some readers enjoying what almost feels like an interactive 'bouncing ideas' component to the story. I just would have preferred the story to be blocked into parts, especially for a re-read or just to mark emotional turning points.
The Somewhat Iffy
The solution is good in theory and I think this would be an interesting mystery to re-read as there were a lot of clues throughout, however I struggle to really buy into the guilty party. I can see the why, the how and all the build up to the truth being well laid out, I just can't see this being the answer if it were a real life murder. The same goes for the affair that's revealed which, again, can't fault the breadcrumbs given and it is a plausible scenario, it just read false to me given the time scale for a bond that strong to have formed. Also the little twist for one of the characters abroad at the end delved into the supernatural in an odd way.
Overall
A great read, very cleverly done and refreshing in style. There were a lot of twists, some I guessed, others that took me by surprise - including, importantly - the murderer.
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