Little Red Death

 

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A killer premise. A hot mess ending.

Little Red Death by Alexandra Benedict had an intriguing premises. A thriller writer gets kidnapped and told to write gruesome murders based on classic fairytales, murders her captor then acts out in real life. So much promise in the premise. Meanwhile DI Lyla Rondell is working the case, tying the killings to fairytales and connecting them to her best friend’s disappearance 25 years ago. Great setup. But the execution just did not hold up for me. 

I’ve read a lot of UK police procedurals and Lyla’s investigation felt off from the jump. She’s relentless, I’ll give her that, but she breaks chain of evidence, goes rogue constantly, and her boss talks and acts nothing like an actual supervising inspector would. It read amateurish in a genre that usually gets these details right. And then the back half. The murders keep escalating, the kidnapped writer is scrambling to save herself, and it all tips into pure absurdity. By the ending I wasn’t along for the ride anymore. I was just along for the wreck. If the goal was a meta, mind bending finale, then mission accomplished. But it cost the story my suspension of disbelief and, unfortunately, my enjoyment too. 

If you want a fast paced mashup of mystery, thriller, fairytale horror and existential chaos, this might be exactly your book. It just wasn’t mine. 

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the gifted ARC. Little Red Death is out Sept. 8. 

You can preorder a copy of Little Read Death at Bookshop.org and help out an indie bookstore while you're at it. 

If you're interested in folktale-based thriller, read my review of The Hat Man by Greg Marchand.

About the Author

Alexandra Benedict is a bestselling, award-winning writer of short stories, novels and scripts. She she writes acclaimed short stories, high-concept novels and award-winning audio drama for Big Finish, Audible UK, Audible US and BBC Sounds among others. She won the Scribe Award for her Doctor Who radio drama, The Calendar Man, and was shortlisted for the eDunnit Novel Award for The Beauty of Murder and the BBC Audio Drama Podcast Award for Children of the Stones. Her Christmas mysteries, The Christmas Murder Game and Murder on the Christmas Express, were both bestsellers, and The Christmas Murder Game was longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger. Follow Alexandra on Instagram or visit her website for more news and information about her books.