A review by sophbean
The Beautiful Dead by Belinda Bauer

3.0

'Hi,' she'd said, 'can I help you?'

'I am a friend', he'd said. 'I am not fierce.'

The killer comes to light when 24 year old Layla Martin is killed one Saturday afternoon in the lobby of her office Block in London. News reporter Eve Singer is one of the first on the scene, hoping to gather some information on the case. On the short journey home Eve is on tenterhooks; she never coped well with blood - but gathering information on cases like Layla's is the only way to keep her job secure and support her father who had Dementia. She asks a man on the street to walk her to her house.. Little did she know that not only had she encountered the very same killer who had murdered Layla, but that a new myriad of both problems and subsequent murders would occur - given the killers' new found obsession with her. Over the next couple of weeks in the run up to Christmas, Eve and her team try desperately to uncover who the killer is, but to no avail. The killer only wants one thing for his final 'Exhibition' - Eve Singer. And when the killer captures her father from right under her nose, Eve feels she would be better off dead than able to disappoint him further.

Overall this book was an easy read that was both interesting, thought provoking, and chilling with a good amount of mystery strewn throughout the plot. The main character Eve is a likeable and relatable young woman who suffers the same struggles that we each encounter in our day to day lives. The only part I felt was unnecessary was the budding romance between Eve and Joe - Eve makes it very clear she feels Joe is too young for her initially, and the overall ending appeared cheesy and thrown in for the hell of it. There are also a fair few secondary characters who are neither memorable nor relevant to the story. Admittedly this is probably not the most gritty crime novel I've read, but it's a good starting point for those like myself who are new to the genre, want something they can read in one or two sittings, or do not like gore. A well rounded and decent, if not groundbreaking book.