The List of Suspicious Things
ISBN: 9781804942949
Description
Maggie Thatcher is prime minister, drainpipe jeans are in, and Miv is convinced that her dad wants to move their family Down South. Because of the murders. Leaving Yorkshire and her best friend Sharon simply isn't an option, no matter the dangers lurking round their way; or the strangeness at home that started the day Miv's mum stopped talking. Perhaps if she could solve the case of the disappearing women, they could stay after all?
Reviewed on 23rd March 2025
It’s Yorkshire in the late 80s, where we meet a nearly-teenage girl with a lot of problems. But that description of the man character shouldn’t imply anything about who should be reading the novel - it would be a mistake not to pick this up as an adult.
The story is framed around Miv’s hunt for the Ripper, but is really about the people that populate the town, and the social dynamics of the time. It’s written with a more up to date awareness, but the events feel entirely plausible in context.
I felt like the quotes on the cover were misleading. They aren’t wrong as such, but don’t put across that some quite harrowing things are going on, at least in the background of the story, and often the foreground.
I found it utterly engaging, and the larger type of the paperback made it nice and easy on the eye as well. The characters are very compelling and easy to empathise with, and it’s both cute and terrifying to see the world through Miv’s naivety.