Reviews

Curfew by Jayne Cowie

lynguy1's review against another edition

4.0

Curfew by Jayne Cowie is set in a dystopian near-future Britain. This story is set in a time and place were women dominate workplaces, public spaces, and government. Women are no longer afraid to walk home alone or catch the last train or bus. Why? All men (and boys 10 years old or older) are electronically tagged and aren’t allowed out of their residences between 7 P.M. and 7 A.M. Failure to adhere to the curfew will result in a three-month prison sentence for the first offense.

Things are better now. Right? Cohabitation licenses require multiple weeks of couples counseling. Violence against women has dropped significantly. The other side is that men are limited by the shifts they can work. Additionally, if they have violated curfew, it is tough to find a job. When a woman is murdered after midnight, it couldn’t have been a man because a Curfew tag is a solid alibi. Isn’t it?

This story is told from the points of view of four women. Pamela is a senior police officer nearing retirement who investigates the murder. Sarah Wallace is a single mom who has rebuilt her life after sending her husband to prison for violating curfew. They’re divorced, but he is going to be released soon. Their teenage daughter, Cass Johnson, hates living in a world that restricts boys and argues continually with her mom and her teacher, Helen Taylor. Helen teaches a class on the history of curfew. She has also applied for a cohabitation certificate with her boyfriend Tom.

All four women are reasonably well-developed, but not very likeable much of the time. The multi-angled character process is effective. Readers start to see how each women connects to and understands or misunderstands the others. This adds complexity and depth to their relationships.
Besides the story going back and forth between these four women, it moves back and forth in time from the present day to four weeks earlier. While this gives a great view of the lives of the women and their friends, it also slows the pace somewhat.

This story features a Britain with repressive control systems and an absence of individual freedoms for men and boys as a needed alternative to the violence against women that is so prevalent in the world today. The plot is twisty and provocative. It doesn’t take into consideration gender identities other than male and female. However, it does look at generational differences in points of view regarding the Curfew Laws.

Overall, this is novel makes one think about issues as well as providing a good murder mystery.

All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was March 22, 2022. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

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My 3.86 rounded to 4 stars review is coming soon.

bbins95's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

dlauabby's review against another edition

funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

cherrykult's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I know teenagers aren't known for making smart choices and all but Cass was so unlikable 97% of the book. 

sugarpopreads's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

caralinem's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

alylively's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Oof. I really disliked this. Great premise: to reduce violence against women, men are electronically monitored and must abide by a curfew or face jail time. What an interesting backdrop for exploring the ethics of gendered house arrest to solve a scary and *real* problem. Instead, the author shows her hand and spoon-feeds readers exposition: men are aloof at their best and manipulative and cruel at their worst; a woman who shows trust or faith in men is naive and foolish. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Domestic abuse

kaylanicole88's review

5.0

Loved this. Read it in one sitting.

nyquillll's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The main reason I’m giving a rating of 3.0 and not 2.something is the last maybe 50-60 pages of the book where the mystery is finally revealed and the main conversation piece in the book is spoken about directly.

While I was reading the book, I did have a lot of challenging questions I was trying to ask myself. “Is this an ethical system, to track only men’s movements? To require them to wear tags and to impose a curfew?” And then I went on a tangent, often completely infuriated by the actions of the three main women in the book with how stubborn, self-preserving, and naive they were. But I think that’s also a byproduct of society and a criticism from the book. So much pressure is put on women to perform and act in specific ways while male actions are hardly ever under scrutiny or this much judgment. 

I think the ending is harrowing because even though we know from the start there’s been a murder, there are multiple viable suspects all with different motives. It was also really traumatic in a way to read these male characters who in some instances are cast in a positive light, but with the women tripping over themselves to cast them in it. At some point it stops being considered giving someone the benefit of the doubt and it starts being endangering a life. It reminds me of one of my biggest fears of meeting someone and thinking we’re a good match only to discover down the line that they’ve snapped and have revealed their true self. 

I think the main redeeming character for me was Pamela, who stood her ground and sought justice even if it meant being questioned and doubted (and silenced). 

I don’t know if society will ever come close to one like this, but with the way text and technology have advanced…It makes me wonder how this world and the law would play out in real life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion and Misogyny

Moderate: Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Quotes I highlighted:

"'Tom!' Helen said, shocked by his tone. 'Don't speak to me like that!'"

"I feel like our victim is in the car with us, sitting in the back, breathing down my neck. I'm letting her down."

"Are you here about Dad?...Have you arrested that woman who tased him?"

"'Don't be mad,' he whispered. 'You know how much I adore you. I don't like it when you're mad at me."

"She didn't want Cass to have either of them. She dumped them both in the bin, then went to get ready for work."

"There's male DNA on the body." "It doesn't matter."

"Something that had been a murmur in the background of her thoughts suddenly became very loud. A girl would mean freedom. Opportunity. Here life would'n't be caged at the age of ten."

"Did she tell you why?" (p.160)

"Stories about Sarah had always worked before, and she was glad to know they still did."

"It's because she's selfish...She always has to have things her own way. I tried to hide it from you when you were little, to make excuses for her. I didn't want you to see it. But I guess I failed...I should have left her years ago, when I had the chance, but you were so young and I didn't want to split up our family. Every time I thought of doing something about it, she talked me out of it."

"The more she said, the more details she gave, the happier he seemed to become."

"I lent it to a mate of mine because he wanted to drop some stuff off this morning. I'm sure I told you. Don't you have a spare in the car?"

"'You're not to see her again,' he said. 'That's it. You and her are done.'"

"Do you remember the woman we spoke to earlier? The one who went out to see a man in the middle of the night? It looks like that man was Sarah Wallace's ex-husband."

"'Because I want to,' Cass told him, and headed back into the girls' toilet, where she knew he couldn't follow."

"The face that she'd thought so wonderfully handsome was suddenly anything but. Anger made him very, very ugly indeed."

"'This is not my fault.' She wouldn't let Billy blame this on her."

"Sue Ferguson wasn't pleased when the dental records came back and positively identified the body as one Helen Taylor..."

"A woman is never more alone or more vulnerable than when she's at home."

"We tracked all slates outside last night, and Cass's was one of them."

"'Good,' she says. 'Because I do, too.'"

"Every dead woman is one too many! All of them count, Sue. Every single one. And every single one deserves justice."

"'No,' she said slowly. 'That's not true. I wanted him to be nice, and so I told myself he was, even when it was obvious that he wasn't.'"

"'Because it was obvious,' she said miserably. 'Do all of them lie? Is this just what they do? Aren't any of them decent?'"

"Pamela had said that those men had learned from one another. They had watched the news reports on television and some part of their twisted minds had decided it was worth it. Prison didn't deter them anymore."

"It felt like every woman in the country had come. Hands were joined in a circle that would not be broken. They didn't want something else. they wanted something more."

"She took a deep breath. 'No more dead women,' she shouted."

"Domestic violence is a secret, a dark and dirty thing that happens to other woman - unless, of course, it is happening to you, as it did to me, because I am the daughter of a violent man."

"I looked at the technologies that are already available so that the world was familiar and plausible. And then I threw in a handful of female characters who were all at different stages of their journey through womanhood, and asked one key question. 'Will men always be a threat?' I'll let you be the judge of that."

rowellreads's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

3.5