Blood by Maggie Gee

Blood

Maggie Gee

Crime is the genre, but Maggie Gee gives you so much more than whodunit. Yes there are two violent deaths, but not in an order you expect. To be inside Monica's mind is to experience depths of emotional abuse, disregard for PC niceties, raw creativity, and all that you want of a teacher at your bog-standard estate school. You'll have your light on at 2am, and then wish you'd read it slower for the hits on Brexit Britain and the black humour.

Extract
'Don't go too far' I carolled, following, but when I got downstairs she was already out of sight, she should have listened, I gave clear instructions. I saw her through the hinges of the sitting-room door, flattened on the wall, outlined against the sofa, and I saw the expression of such terror on her face that I came in after her, my hands spread wide, trying to show her I was Mon the Innocent, Mon the Harmless, Mon the Kind, but I know my hands are unnaturally large and she screamed, 'Don't touch me, I'm calling the police,' and in a split second her phone was in her hand and of course I had no option but to throw myself at her and crush her fingers until she dropped it. I then disposed of it down the toilet, taking her with me, forcibly, arm in arm as if we were friends, and ignoring the fact she was making a fuss.
Parallels
  • What the Birds See by Sonya Hartnett
  • Made in Britain by Gavin James Bower
  • The Afterglow by Anthony Cartwright