Beautiful Malice By Rebecca James

Book Details:

Author: Rebecca James

Ages: 15+

Rating: 6/10

Number of Pages: 353

Plot: Following a devastating tragedy Katherine is forced to move away to start a new life and escape the ghosts of her past. In her new life she looks to live a quiet and solitary life away from the temptations of her past, until she meets the interesting Alice. Katherine’ new life is thrown into jeopardy as she realises that Alice is not the friend she thought she was and Alice has a cruel and dark side. Full of tragedy, betrayal and love this book will have you in shock from beginning to end.

I was given this book as a present for my birthday and was interested to see what the book would be like as I had never read anything from the author before. The book, at first, was quite hard to follow as the chapters continually jump from 3 time periods. However, after persevering I began to really enjoy the characters and was intrigued by the plot.

After getting to grips with the unusual choice of structure, I really enjoyed the diverse range of characters and how they affect Katherine’s story throughout the novel. I loved how the author chose a range of different personalities in her main characters, I especially liked Mike and Philippa. I wasn’t too struck on the main character Katherine as I thought at times she was a bit pathetic when it came to her encounters with the somewhat psychotic Alice. Despite the sometimes annoying persona of Katherine, I thought the characters were realistic and well thought out. I also liked how the reaction to Katherine’s story of her past differed from person to person, I think that this truly reflected how people would react in real life.

So, despite liking the characters there were parts of the plot that I didn’t really like and seemed a little implausible. Overall I thought the whole concept of the book was both unique and quite shocking at parts. After the first few chapters, I really enjoyed the 3 separate time zones featured throughout the book as I think they made the characters more realistic and made it easier to make an emotional connection to Katherine and her family. The structure also I felt made the big reveal at the end more shocking.

 

“So. Were you glad, deep down? Were you glad to be rid of her? Your perfect sister? Were you secretly glad when she died?" – Alice

 Overall, I thought the characters and the structure of the book were well thought out and the book as a whole was shocking and jaw-dropping. Despite not liking some of the structural choices and Katherine I eventually got into the story and enjoyed the book. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys novels full of shock and tragedy.

 

Reviewed by Daisy Wallis