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.

This is a very enjoyable debut thriller. The story is told through dual POV. While both characters are inherently unlikeable, they are well written and impossible to forget.I loved the way the book is written from the two main characters perspectives, a brilliant way to get to know them both which really added a layer of nuance to the story. Complicated, broken women for different reasons who are both desperate for love and friendship. I felt Alice’s exploration of grief, and depression and mental health is an excellent piece of writing. Sensitive but raw. Sometimes Roach sounds like such an insufferable not-like-other-girls, sometimes Laura sounds like a tryhard London literary type – there are points where both of them will make you roll your eyes. Yet as dark as Roach’s story gets, it’s hard not to extend compassion to her, because the narrative is always extending compassion to her too. It’s the same thing with Laura: she’s often an absolute mess, and we see how her behaviour parallels Roach’s in ways she’d no doubt be reluctant to admit – but we get why. If at first it seems clear that Roach is the dark and Laura the light, somewhere along the line both characters are painted such similar shades of grey that they blend and bleed into each other.

It's a creepy story in places and the end is fitting. I loved the writing but sometimes I got a bit nauseous from reading about the huge amounts of alcohol that’s consumed. But Laura (our other POV) and the object of Roach’s obsession has no interest in being friends with her. Having suffered from the trauma of losing her mother at the hands of a serial killer, Laura is physically repulsed by Roach’s fascination with serial killers and avoids all overtures of friendship.Also, though it is nice that the detective in question finds external collaborators...well, there are some chapters where the protagonist does nothing or almost nothing and it is the others who carry out the real detective work. Wigan learns of the collaborator's death only when in the end the killer confesses to the second crime (which he does spontaneously, in fact Wigan only investigates the first murder), inconceivable!

a good and nice man who however wants to summon the devil... well, for me it is a contradiction that is not acceptable. I loved as the story took us through the exhausting period of Christmas in retail, anyone who has lived through a Christmas working in a London store knows the slog of the pre Christmas run up, all the staff becoming more and more run down with pallid faces and bags under their eyes existing on Berocca and cheap red wine, reaching for the eucalyptus shower gel each day in a vain attempt to wake up. It's all so familiar to anyone who has done it. As with others, I found the occult theme a bit off putting, but I can only assume that this too, along with the insights into police and justice procedures, and the seamier side of the book trade, may be a lesser known aspect of the time that Farmer had personal experience of. The first half of the book flowed well, but it wasn't totally engaging for me, I didn't feel the unbridled desire to resume reading every time I had to interrupt. This is a study of crossing boundaries into obsession with a deliciously dark seam of true crime and snappy dialogue. The cover is incredible and I think sums up this thriller so well. An excellent read.Roach becomes so obsessed with Laura that she steals her poetry, her rapey boyfriend tries to publish it, and then she LIES and pretends she didn't blatantly plagerise. When I tell you that this was the worst book ever written ever... that's an understatement. This is a solid 3.5 for me. Slow burn that makes the blood run cold…this one was definitely a dark read. Michael Fisk is found dead, and when one of his rivals, the bad tempered Fred Hampton, tried to sell a book that has clearly come from his collection, he is arrested and tried for his murder. PC Wigan, who was a friend of Fisk's, and his heir, doesn't think they have the right man and sets out to find the real murderer, which he must do before Hampton is hanged, so it becomes a race against time.

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. Very dark, character-driven, slow-burn suspense … Slater explores the ethics surrounding our obsession with true crime and questions how we should handle other people’s stories. This highly original, whip-smart first novel will have crime lovers second-guessing their next read.”

Reading is a way of life for some customers, the kind of customers who buy more than they read, who behave as though ‘bookworm’ is as inherent as their blood type or their astrological sign.” a psychopathic person who often tries to kill his brother and who hides sadomasochistic books, but then in the end after having hosted an old lady, she burns all those horrendous books.. has she suddenly become normal and sane? Come on ! 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. When Sergeant Wigan stops to escort a swaying reveler home at the end of his later shift, he is spun a tale of the ups and downs of a life spent collecting and selling rare books. His new companion, Michael Fisk, has been celebrating the acquisition of a signed copy of Keats's Endymion, and a trip to Fisk's library is enough to convince Wigan to begin his own collection. After developing a love for antiquarian books and a friendship with Fisk, Wigan is called upon by the C.I.D. when tragedy strikes and Fisk is found murdered in his library. The really terrific thing about the book is how the writer conjures that slightly mysterious quality that people working in bookshops always have." Daily Mail