Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by artemisia_vulgaris
The End of the Wasp Season by Denise Mina
challenging
dark
5.0
This is a book about a terrible, sad murder. It is a crime book, not so much in that it investigates how a crime was committed, but by going deep into the causes and effects, the humanity of the people involved, victim, perpetrators, investigators, suspects. Several characters are viewed from the inside, and very uncomfortable it is at times, so vivid is the writing and so extreme the distress. This book addresses terrible things.
If you want a nice straightforward procedural, this is not it. Instead, it pulls tropes inside out, giving us the sordidness and hollowness of what is too often presented as glamorous or righteous and the decency and goodness where we expect despair. Family is an important theme, and money another, and though it leans hard into the dysfunctions and horrors of family, there is some beauty and love in the wreckage, and shining hope.
If you want a nice straightforward procedural, this is not it. Instead, it pulls tropes inside out, giving us the sordidness and hollowness of what is too often presented as glamorous or righteous and the decency and goodness where we expect despair. Family is an important theme, and money another, and though it leans hard into the dysfunctions and horrors of family, there is some beauty and love in the wreckage, and shining hope.