Anatomy of a Crime - Sibel Hodge

Reading Challenge Category: Just wanted to read

Official Blurb:

On the summer solstice in 2017, two girls walk into Blackleaf Forest.
Only one comes out alive.
Dubbed as the Sleeping Beauty Killer, and surrounded by rumours of witchcraft, Caris Kelly is sentenced to life in prison for murdering her best friend during a ritualistic thrill kill. Although Caris insists she is innocent, no one believes her.
Then three years later, investigative journalist Lauren Taylor looks into the murder for her true crime podcast. She becomes convinced there's more to the flimsy witness testimony, sinister coincidences, and sensational press coverage and probes into the case. As prejudices are revealed, lies are uncovered, and secrets are blown wide open, a single question remains... is there really one truth about what happened that night? Or are there only different versions of the same story?

My Thoughts:

This was brilliant. Not at all what I expected. It was so different from anything I’d read before!
It is set out in the form of a podcast narrated by the journalist Lauren who is looking into a crime that happened three years ago. The crime itself is fascinating, and the way it is kept unbiased as we hear from different characters is really unique. I actually felt as if I were following something that had actually happened. I even looked up Stoneminster and Rose Hurst to see if they existed and whether this was based on real events or not.
The comments feed at the end of each podcast was hilarious and so true to form. This was brilliantly executed.
I’d never come across the term ‘incel’ before, and it horrifies me that this can actually happen. What freaked me out more was that the next book I picked up to read (in a completely different genre) starts off with an incident surrounding an incel!
This author certainly knows how to pick hard-hitting topics to cover, and this is no exception. I think this book is going to stick in my mind for some time and will certainly be making my top five books for the year!

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