Black Eyed Susans
By julia heaberlin
Blurb
When was Tessa was seventeen she was named a 'Black-Eyed Susan' by the media, and was famous for being the only victim to survive the vicious attack of a serial killer. Her testimony aided the police in catching the killer...or so she thought.
Decades later Tessa finds some black-eyed susans planted outside her bedroom window and thinks its a message from a killer who should be in prison.
Tessa is haunted by fragments of memories from the night she was attacked and begins to wonder if the man sitting on death row isn't the real killer but can she uncover the truth before it is too late
Our Review
I first discovered Julia Heaberlin when I requested Paper Ghosts off Netgalley. It was definitely one of my favourite books so far this year and I immediately went online to purchase more of her novels.
Black Eyed Susans was one of those books that I didn’t want to put down once I picked it up. As I have written many times before I am not a fan of crime novels in general but once again this was fantastic.
When was Tessa was seventeen she was named a 'Black-Eyed Susan' by the media, and was famous for being the only victim to survive the vicious attack of a serial killer. Her testimony aided the police in catching the killer...or so she thought.
Decades later Tessa finds some black-eyed susans planted outside her bedroom window and thinks its a message from a killer who should be in prison.
Tessa is haunted by fragments of memories from the night she was attacked and begins to wonder if the man sitting on death row isn't the real killer, but can she uncover the truth before it is too late.
Tessa as a narrator is somewhat unreliable as a character but one, I loved from the beginning. From the beginning the reader is given cause to doubt Tessa’s sanity because feels that the other ‘Susans’, the other victims, are speaking to her.
Like Paper Ghosts Black Eyed Susans is full of well-developed characters that the reader will be keen to know more about. For example, there is Effie, Tessa’s neighbour who is slowly losing her brilliant mind to dementia or Lydia, Tessa’s best friend who likes to reel off information about historical serial killers.
I loved all the references to fairy tales in the book and this book reminded me a bit of a dark fairy tale in some ways.
I finished this book in a few days because I didn’t want to stop reading it. I can’t wait read another book by her.
Our Final Rating...
Read & Shared 17 Times.
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