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A review by writteninthestarwars
Supper For Six by Fiona Sherlock
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
2.25
2.25/5
Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for sending me a copy for review.
One night in 1977, five people are invited to the isolated Lady Anderson's home for what she promises to be a lovely dinner; only four of them leave the house alive. Podcast host Felix Caerphilly walks listeners/readers through that fateful night, uncovering the secrets each diner held ... along with a few of his own.
The idea of Supper for Six is an intriguing one: a murder mystery written in the format of a true crime podcast. In practice, though, this book didn't really measure up. The format itself was very difficult to follow, and because the format is the main pull for the story ... that didn't bode well for the rest. As with most true crime podcasts, the narrative includes transcripts of recordings, which add an interesting element to the book but are bogged down by the fact that there are two sets of recordings from two different times/events and they are often mixed together with no official formatting to separate them until the last twenty or so pages. Combine this with what seems to be a very unfortunate mistake early on (long story short, a scene is introduced as taking place during the wrong portion of the timeline and a character who should be dead is shown alive and talking) and a rather lackluster ending, and it all led to me being confused and a bit bored with the overall story.
The 'interview' aspects of the narrative were also quite confusing. Would the people Felix interviewed, about a year after the event, remember the sheen of sweat glistening on someone's forehead? Would they remember the precise way the light shone on something? There were so many details described in these post-event interviews that just didn't seem realistic. And I know this is a work of fiction, but that took me further out of the story than I already was. They were the kind of descriptions that lend themselves more to a narrative that is internal rather than verbal, and I can't help but wonder if I would have been more invested and interested in this story if it had been told in a different format.
This isn't a book I'd recommend to friends, but I will say that there were moments I genuinely enjoyed. Some of the twists were well thought out and perhaps would have made better stories on their own. I'd be interested in reading more of the author's work if it ever doesn't involve a podcast or interview-like framework.
Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for sending me a copy for review.
One night in 1977, five people are invited to the isolated Lady Anderson's home for what she promises to be a lovely dinner; only four of them leave the house alive. Podcast host Felix Caerphilly walks listeners/readers through that fateful night, uncovering the secrets each diner held ... along with a few of his own.
The idea of Supper for Six is an intriguing one: a murder mystery written in the format of a true crime podcast. In practice, though, this book didn't really measure up. The format itself was very difficult to follow, and because the format is the main pull for the story ... that didn't bode well for the rest. As with most true crime podcasts, the narrative includes transcripts of recordings, which add an interesting element to the book but are bogged down by the fact that there are two sets of recordings from two different times/events and they are often mixed together with no official formatting to separate them until the last twenty or so pages. Combine this with what seems to be a very unfortunate mistake early on (long story short, a scene is introduced as taking place during the wrong portion of the timeline and a character who should be dead is shown alive and talking) and a rather lackluster ending, and it all led to me being confused and a bit bored with the overall story.
The 'interview' aspects of the narrative were also quite confusing. Would the people Felix interviewed, about a year after the event, remember the sheen of sweat glistening on someone's forehead? Would they remember the precise way the light shone on something? There were so many details described in these post-event interviews that just didn't seem realistic. And I know this is a work of fiction, but that took me further out of the story than I already was. They were the kind of descriptions that lend themselves more to a narrative that is internal rather than verbal, and I can't help but wonder if I would have been more invested and interested in this story if it had been told in a different format.
This isn't a book I'd recommend to friends, but I will say that there were moments I genuinely enjoyed. Some of the twists were well thought out and perhaps would have made better stories on their own. I'd be interested in reading more of the author's work if it ever doesn't involve a podcast or interview-like framework.