Speak of the Devil by Rose Wilding
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
Speak of the Devil is a creative work of Crime Fiction told in a bit of an unconventional way.
I’ll admit, the first couple sentences of the synopsis are what sold me on picking this one up. I needed nothing further. Yes, please. You had me at ‘severed head’…
In fact, this story does begin with a severed head in a dingy hotel room. Seven women, all very different, but all somehow connected to the man to whom the head once belonged, are gathered around it.
They all had their own reasons for wanting him dead, yet none of them own up to the crime.
Can they figure out who is guilty before the authorities decide for them?
First off, I found this extremely interesting, the content and topics explored. However, I also found the construction of the story to be a bit jarring. There are a lot of characters and you get all of their perspectives. The narrative jumps around a lot, not only via perspective, but also in time.
With this being said, I found the individual perspectives compelling. As you read how each of the women are connected to the murdered man, Jamie, and you come to understand the different experiences that they each had with him, the true portrait of who Jamie was becomes clear.
The way he treated these women. His narcissism, abusive, violent and derogatory behaviors landed him in the spot he ultimately found himself in, headless.
But we can’t just go around decapitating men who use, abuse, gaslight and disregard us, can we?
While I did have some moments where I had to really search my brain to remember some previous connection, or fact, overall, I did enjoy this one.
There was a lot of great social commentary of the treatment of women who have been victimized; whether they are believed, or painted as somehow responsible for the evil things that have happened to them.
As a revenge story, I feel quite satisfied with this one and am definitely interested in picking up future work from this author. This got dark and I appreciate Wilding’s commitment to taking it there.
I would recommend this one to Readers who enjoy a lot of deep character work and social commentary in their Crime Fiction. Additionally, I would recommend the audiobook. I enjoyed the narration style quite a bit.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. This has left me with quite a bit to think about!