A review by rachcannoli
Anatomy of a Murderer by Tim Floreen

3.0

I’m really torn on this book. While I found it very gripping from start to end, anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for a good thriller, there were some aspects of this plot I found very disturbing and not in the way I expected. I’m not quite sure what this book is trying to say. By putting Franklin’s actions on a a chip in his brain, it takes away any responsibility and agency his character has in legit any of his actions so how am I to understand anything he did? I took it as a scifi twist because there’s no way to actually turn off and on someone’s consciousness so easily, so I guess you have to take that with a grain of salt, but I don’t love the message that sends. I also really hate queer characters being constantly represented in such a negative light, it’s horrific representation and for two of the queer characters in this book to be an abusive bully and the other a murderer is really not great. I liked the concept of meddling with someone’s empathy and if that could really change a person, but once the idea of his sexual interest in Rem became a thing I just don’t know how to take it. A lot of the “psychology” if we can really call it that behind this plot and these characters just felt not only wrong but detrimental to anyone impressionable who could read this. Also making Franklin entirely mood dependent on the chip just seemed like an odd way to justify what he did which is multiple murders! Like, I’m just super concerned!! And then how nothing was solved and the fucked up things his mom does seem to keep happening, I just feel so incredibly baffled, not to mention how none of that was wrapped up in the conclusion. I don’t know, I’m truly at a loss. While the book was fun and I wanted to know what happened, with the more mysteries it unfolded the answers I received greatly concerned me and from the multiple high reviews on this book it feels like no one felt the same. I really just feel disconcerted and unsure how I feel on the whole, which I’m sure is clear from my rambling. Interesting concept, not sure it properly handled the material it attempted to cover though.