Alice Clark-PlattsRezensionen

I am so often disappointed at authors who write for adults seeming to be completely unaware of how children 10 years and under act and talk. Maybe they write in a vacuum away from any exposure to children. These children are either written acting and talking well above or well below their true age and this book goes the acting younger route.
When she is first questioned by the police the older sister is 10 years old but the questions put to her are phrased as "When you went to the park yesterday, did you ride on the horsie and the swing?" 10 year olds are writing in paragraphs and have been speaking in complex sentences for years! no self respecting 10 year old would accept being spoken to like that.

I read this book via The Pigeonhole ( read in instalments over 10 days) and it was so gripping. I could not wait for the next days stave to be released. The book starts when a child goes missing from a hotel. It soon becomes apparent that one of the guests is one of the Flower Girls - two sisters who 20 years earlier were involved in the abduction and murder of a little girl Kirstie. Rosie aged 6 at the time could not be criminally responsible and so was given a new identity whilst her 10 year old sister Laurel was imprisoned. Rosie now called Hazel is that guest. The book then flits between the current missing child’s storyline and what took place 20 years ago. I cannot recommend this highly enough and look forward to reading more by Alice Clark-Platts

This review first appeared on CriminOlly.wordpress.com. I received a free copy of the book in return for a review.

‘The Flower Girls’ is a twisted, twisting mystery that kept me guessing right up to the last page. It’s also a thoughtful, challenging and shocking examination of an emotive subject that avoids easy answers and is all the more powerful for it.
The setup is simple but Alice Clark-Platts does a lot with it. In the late 1990s two young sisters, Laurel (10) and Primrose (6) are accused of the murder of a 2 year old girl, Kirstie. Laurel is found guilty and sent to prison. Primrose, who is under the age of criminal responsibility, goes free and she and her parents start a new life under assumed names. Skip forward to the present day and Laurel is still incarcerated, whilst Primrose (now Hazel) is living a normal life and is staying at a hotel with her boyfriend. When Georgie, a young girl who is another guest at the hotel, goes missing, Hazel finds herself a suspect again.
That premise contains two mysteries, what has happened to Georgie and what really happened to Kirstie. Clark-Platts does a good job of teasing them both out throughout the book. The investigation by local police into Georgie’s disappearance is laid out in convincing, if not painstaking, detail; while the truth of the past crime against Kirstis is revealed through flashbacks as Hazel gradually rebuilds her memory of it. The two strands are woven together nicely as the book progresses and both kept me engrossed right up to the end.
Throughout, the book is populated by convincing characters. There are a lot of them too, for a relatively simple narrative, but they are always distinct and I never found myself confused as to who was who. Importantly, they all have motivations and drivers which are believable, even if the reader might not always agree with them. The police investigating the disappearance, the staff and other guests at the hotel, Georgie’s parents, all slip in and out of the narrative effortlessly, building a convincing picture of an ongoing investigation.
What really impressed me though, was the attention that Clark-Platts pays to the continuing impacts of the original crime on the people involved in it. The victim’s family, including her aunt who has built a career as a campaigner for victim’s rights. Laurel who has grown up in prison, and her lawyer uncle who has devoted his life to seeking her release. The details of their lives are moving and thought provoking and really add to the richness of the book.
The end result then, is that ‘The Flower Girls’ is an engrossing and accomplished mystery, but beyond that it’s a brilliant examination of how society treats children who kill. It’s not always easy reading, but it’s definitely worth your time. It kept me guessing and thinking from the first page up until the chilling conclusion.

46

So this was such a chillingly interesting premise and almost from the onset here because of the delicate and disturbing subject matter we are being exposed to I felt an almost deep sense of unease and dread down to my very bones.
This really wasn't an easy subject to take on board and digest: but it was one I really wanted to tackle just because of the discomforting content and unpleasant questions this poses when dealing with the actions of children and their culpability when committing such horrific crimes and while there were instances I found The Flower Girls to be thought Provoking and intense I also thought it started with a bang then slowly fizzled away leaving me feeling rather deflated inside as I was really expecting so much more then what I was actually given.
So this is told in then and now time and from multiple POV's: it also jumped around slightly which could be a tad disconcerting at times.
I loved the way this was almost a puzzle: a mystery to be solved and it did make me question what to actually take at face value here and how authentic was the limited information we were being dripfed by the author.
I was also left with questions here: one being the conspiracy of silence for so many years between the girls themselves.
I really liked where this eventually took us in regards to that end reveal: but did feel that this should have been expanded on and some clarity offered regarding the Why?
This did to me feel unfinished with that rather abrupt ending and I felt like I was leaving the story before the eventual conclusion was offered up.
I did enjoy this mostly but on reflection, there were just some aspects here that didn't quite work for me.
I would still recommend this as its very well written and in my opinion, did have more positives than negatives.
I voluntary reviewed an Arc of The Flower Girls.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com

So this was such a chillingly interesting premise and almost from the onset here because of the delicate and disturbing subject matter we are being exposed to I felt an almost deep sense of unease and dread down to my very bones.
This really wasn't an easy subject to take on board and digest: but it was one I really wanted to tackle just because of the discomforting content and unpleasant questions this poses when dealing with the actions of children and their culpability when committing such horrific crimes and while there were instances I found The Flower Girls to be thought Provoking and intense I also thought it started with a bang then slowly fizzled away leaving me feeling rather deflated inside as I was really expecting so much more then what I was actually given.
So this is told in then and now time and from multiple POV's: it also jumped around slightly which could be a tad disconcerting at times.
I loved the way this was almost a puzzle: a mystery to be solved and it did make me question what to actually take at face value here and how authentic was the limited information we were being dripfed by the author.
I was also left with questions here: one being the conspiracy of silence for so many years between the girls themselves.
I really liked where this eventually took us in regards to that end reveal: but did feel that this should have been expanded on and some clarity offered regarding the Why?
This did to me feel unfinished with that rather abrupt ending and I felt like I was leaving the story before the eventual conclusion was offered up.
I did enjoy this mostly but on reflection, there were just some aspects here that didn't quite work for me.
I would still recommend this as its very well written and in my opinion, did have more positives than negatives.
I voluntary reviewed an Arc of The Flower Girls.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com

A gripping tale of suspense with a spine tingling ending! Twenty years ago a two year old girl was found dead after being abducted by two young girls. Ten year old Laurel Bowman was found guilty of her murder, whilst her six year old sister, Primrose, due to her age, wasn’t considered criminally responsible and was allowed to go free. These girls became known as ‘the Flower Girls’ Now another young child goes missing at a hotel in Devon on New Year’s Eve where one of the Flower Girls is staying under a new identity. Is she responsible?

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I read it via the Pigeonhole app in staves and found I was eagerly awaiting each stave to arrive every day. It’s very much a page turner where the question of ‘is it nature or nurture’ springs to mind, as well as how do we actually know if someone is telling the truth. To me this tale read quite like a horror story at times, or even an episode from ‘Tales of the Unexpected’, especially as I began to realise that all was not as it seemed. This is a cracking read which held my attention throughout, right until the chilling end. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Well I certainly agree, You will Never Forget the Flower Girls!

Why would a child would murder a toddler? What does rehabilitation mean for a young child who commits a crime?

20 years ago two young girls, Laurel and Primrose hit the headlines. Laurel is convicted of murder and Rosie, who denies involvement, is not charged. At 6 years old she is deemed to be too young to be held responsible for such a crime.

Now going by her new name, Hazel’s life has moved on. She is in a stable relationship managing to keep her past in the past. When a young girl goes missing from the hotel Hazel is staying, events spiral out of her control and it soon leads to her identity being uncovered, and press interest begins once again.

Laurel has been in prison for 18 years, after being denied parole on two separate occasions she is appealing the latest decision.

With flashbacks to the childhood of Laurel and Primrose before,during and after the murder and brief coverage of Laurel`s trial you begin to see event through their eyes.

It is a fairly taboo subject to write and read about but this is sensitively written and is a great unforgettable read with an ending I honestly didn’t see coming!

What a way to end a book, I really really hope there will be a continuation of The Flower Girls story, I would love to know what happens next! It’s almost impossible to read this book without giving some thought to things such as morality, forgiveness, justice and punishment in today’s society but it is in no way pushed down the readers necks.

It really is a brilliantly crafted novel you will never forget. This book should be at the top of everyone’s To Be Read pile! 📚

The Flower Girls will be published in the UK on 21 Jan 2019 in e-book format and 24th Jan 2019 in hardback.

Thank’s go to Alice Clark-Platts, Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and comments are my own.

The body of a young student is found in the River Wear the night after a student party in Durham. Emily is a pretty blonde from a seemingly nice middle-class home so what could the motive for murder be? DI Erica Martin is charged with solving the case as her first major incident in a new role. There are no shortage of suspects, the student who confessed, the boyfriend who was sending pornographic photos of Emily around, her father with his unhealthy obsession. However as DI Martin is hassled by the press and obfuscated by the University hierarchy, she tries to find out who exactly Daniel Shepherd is, seemingly a friend of Emily's, he was also involved in trolling her online.

There is much to like about this book. The plot is interesting, though fairly obvious, and the setting is both accessible and yet distant. The up-to-date ideas of sexual exploitation and trolling work well. Unfortunately the book left me rather cold, the characterisation is weak and the personal life of DI Martin is so sketchy that it seems an afterthought. It's a solid debut rather than an outstanding one.

In a run-down bed and breakfast in the city of Durham, a charismatic preacher is brutally bludgeoned to death. His daughter is initially thought to be the perpetrator as the murder weapon was found wrapped in a piece of her clothing. however as DI Erica Martin investigates the crime she discovers many secrets hidden by the church and the family - secrets around madness, death and abuse.

The theme of paedophilia related to religious groups is very topical at the moment and this book takes a number of ideas and wraps them around this idea. Unfortunately I think there are just too many ideas on the go here and it makes the book really difficult to get into. However once the story progresses to show the insanity of Sera it takes light and the final third of the book is conducted at an exciting pace and with a renewed interest in the plot which was sagging up till then. The characters of the Durham police team are developing nicely and without the overt emphasis that happened in the previous novel (Bitter Fruits). A fairly standard police procedural with a little edge.

The Taken – A taut and pulsating thriller

The Taken is the second book in the Erica Martin series, bit could work well as a standalone thriller in its own right. Alice Clark-Platts is a brilliant talent whose prose draws you in and keeps you hooked throughout the thriller, a brilliant storyteller. Somehow Clark-Platts makes Durham sound more exciting than it really is, maybe the tourist board ought to hire her to write their advertising material.

Detective Inspector Erica Martin is just back from having some time in the sun with her new gentleman friend and she is refreshed and ready to get back to work. When she is called out to a murder that has taken place at a B&B and a rather dingy B&B at that little does she realise that she is going to be confronted by a case where nothing is what it seems, a list of possible suspects and where the truth seems to be in very short supply.

Pastor Tristan Snow has been found dead on the floor of his room and his head has been bashed in, and nobody heard a thing. To make matters worse for DI Martin, this is a celebrity pastor and the press will soon be hounding the police during the investigation, and having no witnesses but plenty of suspects with a motive for murder is not a help.

Little does Martin know where her investigation will lead at the best of times, especially when a number of accusations are levelled at the late Pastor Snow, and his wife seems not able to communicate with the investigation tea. Martin knows that she must discover what secrets Pastor Snow’s church may be hiding might be the key to her investigation or it could be completely irrelevant.

Like most murder inquiries the case takes a life of its own while at the same time Martin seems like she has hit a brick wall. Nothing is making sense, and she needs to unravel a web of deceit to find the truth, especially as every seemed to have loved Pastor Snow and his wife. Martin knows she must scrape the veneer of respectability away to get to the truth, but she is not sure she can do it.

Alice Clark-Platts has written a pulsating, taut police procedural thriller that keeps the reader hooked from the beginning to the end. The prose is clear and crisp and somehow keeps up a pace that will leave you breathless but intrigued throughout, this is a readable and exciting thriller that I can highly recommend.

Bitter Fruits - Alice Clark Platts

I love debut novels. They are such a lottery. They can be dire and finishing them can feel like wading through treacle. They can be okay and you sense some promise and defer ultimate judgement until the next one. Or they can completely blow you away.
I couldn't put this book down and I mean that literally. Everything was put on hold until I finished it.
I hesitate to use the word brilliant because it is overused and my response is subjective but for me this wasn't far short.
It’s a deceptive book and more substantial than it seems at first. And yet curiously there is a danger that this substance could be overlooked as the reader focuses purely on the crime aspect because it is so well done the attention doesn't stray.
The plot is tight, well constructed with a veritable shoal of red herrings to lure the reader into believing they have solved this crime. The characters are believable. There is no holding back when highlighting some of today’s contemporary issues; internet bullying so endemic nowadays, the morality of the media, or their lack of it, the dynamics of a police force pressured into delivering results unreasonably quickly to satisfy the bureaucrats and social commentators as if catching a murderer is so easy. And throughout the book how hard it is to be a young person in today’s world. I could go on the book has such a to to offer.
There were imperfections; the story uses a dual narrative technique and there were a couple of inconsistencies, for example a character developed in the first narrative was suddenly mentioned in the second with no exposition. Some of the descriptive passages were so typical of a debut novel, that desire to demonstrate all at once the writer’s abilities. But I’m nit picking and this book doesn't deserve it.
I’m very excited by this writer and I do hope there are more tales of this calibre to issue forth from her pen. Alice Clark-Platts? I am a fan.