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A review by amy_park
Penance by Eliza Clark
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
Eliza Clark has once again written a banger! Confirming she is one of my favourite authors! This was sensational! The premise was fascinating; a "cancelled" journalist writes a book about a murder of a teenage girl by three girls from her school, set in a British seaside town! SOLD!
The writing is perfection, I was so enthralled that when reading passages I believed it was non-fiction, but then got jolted by the awkward and cringe comments of the journalist, reverting me back to the mindset that this is a novel.
The horrific behaviour of teenage girls and high school friendship groups, including the easy way girls can flit to bullying, was so realistic and well written, it really took me back to my own school memories.
Although awfully bleek, graphic and grotesque from the start it was sprinkled with dark humour and British-isms, which did lighten the heaviness of the topics at times.
Fantastic! I will read everything Eliza writes (when reading she announced she will be releasing a short story collection later in 2024, eekk)!
Also, shout out to the multiple Derek Accorah and Most Haunted references, personally making my heart smile 🤌
The writing is perfection, I was so enthralled that when reading passages I believed it was non-fiction, but then got jolted by the awkward and cringe comments of the journalist, reverting me back to the mindset that this is a novel.
The horrific behaviour of teenage girls and high school friendship groups, including the easy way girls can flit to bullying, was so realistic and well written, it really took me back to my own school memories.
Although awfully bleek, graphic and grotesque from the start it was sprinkled with dark humour and British-isms, which did lighten the heaviness of the topics at times.
Fantastic! I will read everything Eliza writes (when reading she announced she will be releasing a short story collection later in 2024, eekk)!
Also, shout out to the multiple Derek Accorah and Most Haunted references, personally making my heart smile 🤌
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Torture, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Kidnapping