A smaller group of us met to discuss the book and we had a lively and wide ranging chat. We liked the way the book was written and felt that Molly, the main character, was made neurodivergent because the story wouldn’t have been credible otherwise. Her outlook on things and how this fed into the story were crucial to the story even when it led her into trouble because she didn’t see things as they truly were.
It’s always fascinating to see how we realise things and sometimes change our views, and even how we rate the book, while we’re talking. Such as how with hindsight the names of two of the characters, Mr Snow and Mr Black, gave indications of their characters.
There are a few holes in the plot, for example we wondered if some of Molly’s behaviour was out of character given her very strict view of right and wrong. We decided that this showed that she was growing as a person and starting to see that life wasn’t always as clear cut as she had believed.
We felt that the story had an Agatha Christie and gangster type vibe. Were it not for the mention of mobile phones and certain shoes with red soles it could have been set in the 1920’s or 1930’s.
As always our discussion sometimes took us down very different paths than the book itself. That’s part of the real joy of a book club, we meet to talk about books, and through our conversations and shared views and experiences we get to know both the books and each other better.
Overall we liked the book and gave it an average marking of 8 out of 10.