Death of a Bookseller: the instant Sunday Times bestseller! The debut suspense thriller of 2023 that you don't want to miss!

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But when did I ever agree with the majority on books? It’s an oddity, certainly – not the greatest prose and the plot is rather loose and rambly, and there’s a weird thread running through it where sensible and rational people all seem to find the idea of raising the devil and demons not just possible, but quite likely. But for all that, I found that once I got used to the rather plain writing style I enjoyed it, and as it progressed towards the end, I got fully caught up in the story and found the tension building nicely. I liked Roach at first, I think it really affected her, the way Laura treated her. It became an obsession to show Laura that they could become friends, that they shared a common interest although at two different polars of the same spectrum. Some of her decisions were extremely ill advised and she took on a different identity, someone more than Roach, more confidence, more outspoken, a person she wanted to be. It didn’t really work for her though, she should’ve given Laura the two-finger sign and moved on. You should always be yourself. It was interesting to have someone dislikeable as the main character. Protagonists are usually nice and likeable and familiar, but Roach was none of those things. She’s unashamedly wrong. But yet we still root for her. You’ll find yourself rooting both for her and against her.

Laura was equally not my favorite character. She was hard to like. Her life was spiraling, too, and she did take some of the parts of her life for granted, how easy they were, even though her life wasn't easy. I found the whole serial killer obsession fascinating. It’s a bit controversial to admit you are interested in them, but given the amount of books, movies and TV shows inspired about them, there are clearly more of us with a fascination than we might admit. Is there a more anticipated 2023 book in literary circles than this one? And it’s a debut! A powerful debut at that. I thought this was so clever and a really enjoyable read. Both main characters were fully formed and you felt yourself empathising with both and equally wanting to shake them at times! I don’t read many crime novels, but when I do I want them to be thrilling and exciting, and even though there’s some pretty heavy stalking and obsession going on, I’m afraid to say it didn’t make me sit at the edge of my chair. And spoiler alert:

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Morbidly atmospheric yet thoroughly mesmerising, Alice Slater’s debut cleverly delves into the world of True Crime, and the problematic exploitation of real crime (and the deaths of real people) for entertainment.

This is an absolute masterclass in storytelling and I know I’ll be reading it again when it comes out. I would probably advise not to read it before bed. I did, and then dreamt about serial killers. But if that’s your thing, then I won’t stop you. Roach loves serial killers, homicides, horror movies and everything that has to do with macabre and blood. But one day Mike Fisk, the collector, is found dead and despite the arrest of a person, Sergeant Wigan wants to find out who, according to him, is the real killer.According to Martin Edwards in the Introduction to this reprint, original copies of the novel are much sought after and the story has cult status among book lovers. Surely that can only be because of the huge amounts of information on book collecting, bookselling and arcane books which it contains, since it could hardly be said to have appeal for lovers of stylish writing, tight plotting and solid detective investigation. A great and unusual story - a true crime addict and a woman on the verge of a breakdown are strangely intertwined, almost at times seeming to become each other. When Roach spots a copy of I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer in Laura's bag, she thinks she's found something of a soulmate in her fellow employee. Laura, it turns out, is actually disgusted by true crime, and is not overly fond of Roach. I really like the symmetry of the ending and overall this is an immersive, dark and well written novel which the excellent cover really captures. We read their story from both POV’s, and the similarity between their stories becomes gradually known. Another similarity is the fact that they both drink. A lot. An awful lot. Why in heavens’ name would you spend almost every evening after work getting drunk with your colleagues? Every character in this story – because there are more people working in Spines, the store where the story is set – is on his/her way to become a full fledged alcoholic. If you cannot call them that already.