10th November 2024

I was a bit concerned going into Alex Pavesi’s second novel - the first had such a clever structure to it and I wasn’t sure how this would avoid feeling like a copy or just becoming a regular novel. But it’s managed with amazing talent to create a really addictive reading experience.

It’s a story of six friends who come together for a weekend in 1999, and write stories about each other murdering other members of the group. But everything is presented together - truth and stories - in a non-chronological order, so the reader has to try to work out step by step what’s real and what’s the stories within the story.

This means that some scenes do end up seeming fairly brutal, but for the most part I just wanted to keep on reading to find out what was actually going on and try to gradually lift the curtain bit by bit.

A properly enjoyable read, but probably one best read fairly quickly to avoid having forgotten details as you go.

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6th February 2022

I picked up this new mystery novel entirely on a whim after seeing it displayed in a bookshop and needing an extra book to make up a multi buy deal. I’m glad I did.

The wrapping story sees Julia track down a mathematician turned author turned recluse, and visits him asking to understand more about his collection of short stories - which purport to be examples of all the mathematically possible crime stories.

It’s a fascinating book on several levels. The combination of maths and mystery fits nicely with me, as it could be said that I’ve studied both things. The structure, alternating between chapters representing each of the short stories, and chapters exploring the interaction and discussion between the two real characters, is novel, and makes for a really interesting read.

I’m really happy to have found this book, and am intrigued to see if the author has anything else lined up next.

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