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outsmartyourshelf's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Ed Truman is having a very bad day: first he has incels from the local Men Together group picketing his driveway, his son seems to hate him, his wife is bored, & his daughter is missing. Ally failed to come home & although they received a text from her saying she had gone away for the weekend, Ed is not convinced it is from Ally. She has been targeted by the incel group for 'milkshaking' their leader, doxxed on their website, & threatened. The group have now stepped up their campaign after Ed filed a restraining order against them & got their website shut down.
DCI Jackie Rose hates this time of year as it is anniversary of the death of her family, killed by a car bomb. No=one was ever brought to justice but Jackie lives in hope. Her latest case involves the death of a young woman whose body was found out in the open at a local park. Jackie finds it strange that there was no attempt to hide the body, almost as if someone wanted her to be found quickly. The girl has the hair from her attacker clutched in her hand, if the person is on the DNA database, they'll have their man. When the results come back as Ed Truman, & he is simultaneously accused of sexual harassment out of nowhere by three women, Jackie thinks it's all starting to look a wee bit too convenient.
Ed goes on the run & meets up with one of Ally's friends, Phoenix, who has video evidence of what Men Together are really up to. Can Ed & Phoenix find out what happened to Ally & get the incel group shut down for good?
This book covers some deep dark areas of modern society; incel culture, misogyny, homophobia, & transphobia. It was difficult to read some of the chapters, especially those from the point of view of Benedict, one of the leaders of Men Together. Benedict uses his good looks to mask his virulent hatred of women. It's unsettling to think that there are actual men on the internet who think like him. Jackie is a great character, a strong no-nonsense woman, but I found Ed a bit bleh at times. Overall, it was an interesting read but many of the supporting characters felt quite thinly drawn & I thought it was quite easy to work out where betrayal was going to come from. Good but not great, 3 stars.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Serpent's Tail/Viper/Profile Books, for the opportunity to read an ARC. I am voluntarily giving an honest review.
DCI Jackie Rose hates this time of year as it is anniversary of the death of her family, killed by a car bomb. No=one was ever brought to justice but Jackie lives in hope. Her latest case involves the death of a young woman whose body was found out in the open at a local park. Jackie finds it strange that there was no attempt to hide the body, almost as if someone wanted her to be found quickly. The girl has the hair from her attacker clutched in her hand, if the person is on the DNA database, they'll have their man. When the results come back as Ed Truman, & he is simultaneously accused of sexual harassment out of nowhere by three women, Jackie thinks it's all starting to look a wee bit too convenient.
Ed goes on the run & meets up with one of Ally's friends, Phoenix, who has video evidence of what Men Together are really up to. Can Ed & Phoenix find out what happened to Ally & get the incel group shut down for good?
This book covers some deep dark areas of modern society; incel culture, misogyny, homophobia, & transphobia. It was difficult to read some of the chapters, especially those from the point of view of Benedict, one of the leaders of Men Together. Benedict uses his good looks to mask his virulent hatred of women. It's unsettling to think that there are actual men on the internet who think like him. Jackie is a great character, a strong no-nonsense woman, but I found Ed a bit bleh at times. Overall, it was an interesting read but many of the supporting characters felt quite thinly drawn & I thought it was quite easy to work out where betrayal was going to come from. Good but not great, 3 stars.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Serpent's Tail/Viper/Profile Books, for the opportunity to read an ARC. I am voluntarily giving an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Violence
Moderate: Transphobia and Homophobia
cassiecat's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.5
A new author to me, it’s a thriller set in London.
Ed Truman’s family is falling apart. He is being targeted by a group at his home and work place as he has been supporting his daughter Ally by putting an injunction against Men together’s website forcing it to shut down. His 16 yr old daughter Ally is being targeted by the organisation called Men Together, as she went up against them. She goes missing, Ed
is accused of sexual assault and his dna is found on the body of a young woman.
Is he guilty or is it a conspiracy? The answers are in the box, just one problem, not everyone who goes in comes out alive!
This sounded like quite an action thriller to me from the blurb.
The prologue seemed a bit weird and wasn’t a strong hook, it didn’t make me want to read the book, it felt like it might be a speculative futuristic thriller. It quickly turns into a police procedural. DCI Jackie Rose leads the Rapid and Serious Unit (RAS). Then it evens out into a blend of thriller and procedural with a decent dollop of suburban action.
There’s a lot of names suddenly thrown at the reader when the police procedural element comes into play. To be honest I don’t think we needed them.
I wasn’t totally invested in the characters. Ed grew on me, and I liked Phoenix. There was definitely character development with Ed
I enjoyed it, it’s different which is what kept my interest, it’s got a decent pace, but it didn’t wow me.
I was disappointed with the ending.
estherb's review
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
3.5
The opening chapter of the box left me wanting so much… luckily this one didn’t disappoint!
‘The box’ didn’t feature again until half way though and it’s not until later still that we learn what ‘the box’ is.
Featuring Incels, misogynistic views and transphobia amongst other things, this author certainly doesn’t pussy foot around tough subject matter.
One of the main Protagonists, Phoenix, is a really strong character in more ways than one, in contracts to Ed, who has many weaknesses, although his strength is his love for his family.
The police aspect with a strong female lead in Jackie, who has her own flaws too, added another dimension to the story.
I was also taken on by Benedict, which I think was the aim of his character, to show they beautiful people are not always what they appear to be.
It’s a difficult book to for if you genre - part domestic thriller, part police procedural and almost sci fi in some areas due to ‘the box’.
I’ve not read anything by Dan Malakin before but I’ll certainly be looking up his back catalogue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia and Misogyny
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