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A review by steph1rothwell
A Gift for Dying by M.J. Arlidge
3.0
I had never read anything by this author before but was aware of the successful Helen Grace series so I jumped at the chance to read this new standalone novel.
Kassie is a loner. She has a difficult relationship with her mother, few friends, is rarely at school and she dabbles in drugs. She only has one person who understands her and she can’t help her due to her age and health. She is a person who if it was real life I would go out of may way to avoid. But she has a gift that nobody else would wish for and because of this gift I had a lot of sympathy for her. Both Adam and Gabrielle tried to help and gain insight from her but understandably struggled. Especially Adam who suffered terribly due to getting involved. Strangely, both of these two I didn’t have much liking for.
The murders committed are extremely violent, I can’t think of any that are as violent as the ones that take place in this novel. The details about the remains were similar to others but the actual act of murder made me happy that I read during the day. I did have my suspicions about the who the killer was and why they chose their victims but I was wrong in every way.
My favourite character was one who featured briefly, Kassie’s grandmother. When Kassie described something that occurred during her grandmother’s childhood that affected her for the rest of her life, it was the most chilling part of the novel. She also showed that nobody could understand Kassie better than her.
Kassie is a loner. She has a difficult relationship with her mother, few friends, is rarely at school and she dabbles in drugs. She only has one person who understands her and she can’t help her due to her age and health. She is a person who if it was real life I would go out of may way to avoid. But she has a gift that nobody else would wish for and because of this gift I had a lot of sympathy for her. Both Adam and Gabrielle tried to help and gain insight from her but understandably struggled. Especially Adam who suffered terribly due to getting involved. Strangely, both of these two I didn’t have much liking for.
The murders committed are extremely violent, I can’t think of any that are as violent as the ones that take place in this novel. The details about the remains were similar to others but the actual act of murder made me happy that I read during the day. I did have my suspicions about the who the killer was and why they chose their victims but I was wrong in every way.
My favourite character was one who featured briefly, Kassie’s grandmother. When Kassie described something that occurred during her grandmother’s childhood that affected her for the rest of her life, it was the most chilling part of the novel. She also showed that nobody could understand Kassie better than her.