Dead Lovely by Helen Fitzgerald had been sitting on my TBR shelf for years when I pulled it down to read this month. Talk about finding treasures on your shelves, this book was clever, funny, outrageous and I couldn’t put it down. The book is a thriller about a single mother dealing with having a child, secrets from the past, life-long friends and betrayals. These plot points are meshed together in a well written murder story that both shocked and entertained me.

Two young women who have been best friends since they were six, Krissie and Sarah are quite different as adults. Sarah married a doctor and is anxious to start a family but is having difficulty in getting pregnant. Krissie on the other hand moves from man to man having no great desire to settle down. When she becomes pregnant after a one-night stand and decides to keep the baby, her relationship with Sarah becomes somewhat strained. Post-natal depression and alcohol dependency aren’t helping Krissie become a good mother, so when a holiday for Krissie, Sarah and her husband, Kyle, is suggested, it sounds like a perfect break for them all. While backpacking in Scotland, life suddenly gets a lot messier for this trio.

While Dead Lovely may be too dark for some people, I relished the selfish, almost unlikable characters, the fast paced plot and the twisted humor that this psychological thriller delivers. ( )

This is a beautifully written book, which started out tremendously well, but which ultimately lost its way for me. I was completely gripped by the set up, and stayed with it right until the fated camping trip. But then it all started falling apart. Unfortunately, I didn't believe a word of the final sequence of the book, and it seemed to me that all the characters had had personality transplants. But the prose itself is exquisite, so I would look to the next book with hope... ( )

On the very first page of Dead Lovely we’re told that Krissie has killed Sarah, her best friend since they were four. The book then looks retrospectively at how the friends’ relationship deteriorates from ‘best friends’ status and then looks at the aftermath of the killing. I’m not normally a huge fan of this ‘start at the end and work backwards’ kind of story but I found this one truly compelling (in fact I read it in a single sitting).

The book’s short, sharp chapters are mostly told from Krissie’s perspectives although a few are told from Sarah’s or Kyle’s (Sarah’s husband) and a couple from other characters. Fitzgerald does a great job of differentiating between the voices of each character. The characters are very believable too, especially the quiet desperation of new mum Krissie.

There were a couple of plot devices that felt a little bit 'have to move the story forward now' awkward to me (most notably the way Sarah’s husband reacts to news of her death) but in general the development of the story is realistic and highly credible.

This is a great read, and gets extra points because it's so nice to read a top-notch mystery/thriller that isn’t part of a series.
( )

"I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed it. The first page seems like you're about to read this gritty and crude detective novel but then it gets funny."
read more: http://likeiamfeasting.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/dead-lovely-helen-fitzgerald.html ( )

Ik kende deze schrijfster nog niet. Daarom weet je ook niet precies wat voor (schrijf)stijl je kunt verwachten. Het begin viel me wat tegen. Je leest gewoon mee in het leven van Krissie. Dat kabbelt een beetje voort. Pas als de 3 samen op vakantie gaan wordt het spannend. Ik vond de uitwerking van de personages ook niet sterk genoeg. Het gaat uiteindelijk om iets wat beide meisjes hebben meegemaakt in hun jeugd. Daar wilde ik eigenlijk veel meer over weten! Het spannende einde maakte veel goed. Ik heb het boek dan ook in een hoog tempo uitgelezen! Toch wel weer een aanrader deze literaire thriller. Ik denk wel dat het meer een boek voor vrouwen is. Er zijn nog meer thrillers van Helen verschenen, die ga ik op mijn verlanglijstje zetten. "Mijn laatste betekenis" uit 2009 heeft ook Krissie als hoofdrolspeelster. ( )