A review by khopeisz
Penance by Eliza Clark

3.0

Went into this without knowing the premise. If I had, I probably would not have read this book, as I have never liked or been interested in true crime or any discussions thereof (I put a hold on this book in the library months ago without thinking anything beyond: new book by popular author). The book is very topically aware of internet culture, and the point it is making is meta. But I felt the point lacked nuance, nor did it interrogate why people are interested in true crime. All it said was “

true crime = bad. This book was very upsetting and the ‘twist’ as intimated in the blurb was not worth consuming the  upsetting material (I skipped entire sections in the last fourth). I felt I could not rate this book because I did read it in ignorance. But in the end, it’s my rating, and disturbing content aside, I felt the book was average on a technical, structural and philosophical level.