BOOK REVIEW - Notes on a Murder - B.P. Walter - Physical Book - 4*

BOOK REVIEW

Notes on a Murder - B.P. Walter

Another blind pick from my TBR bucket and a book received from Teatime Bookshop (see my review and unboxing of the Teatime Bookshop here, where you can also get 10% off your purchase!) in one of my monthly subscription boxes. I've seen some people wrap and number their physical TBR before picking a number and reading the correlating, wrapped book. Seems like a creative way of doing it, I might look out for some gothic wrapping paper and spend a day wrapping and numbering. A literal bucket of books is unsightly, to say the least!

Anyway, I digress. The blurb for this book was interesting without giving anything away and I adored the cover art, a fountain pen leaking ink (the ink giving the appearance of blood). It made me think of literary, verbose, and captivating writing so I was hopeful when I dove in. 

The prologue had me wide-eyed and intrigued. The dual timelines had me questioning everything and everyone. The finale had me slack-jawed, how did I not see that coming? I always see the twists coming! 

I'll start by saying, that this is not a traditional thriller. The writing style is literary (as I had hoped) and is more focussed on the feelings and journey of our main character, Oliver, as he experiences a summer of manipulation, romance, murder, and tension. There's no verbose gore or overtly detailed depictions of crime scenes/events and this works really well with the style and tone of the book. It's an undercurrent rather than an outright wave and I really enjoyed just being able to interpret these things for myself. The underlying thread of tension and mystery is woven through every page, I was looking for clues that weren't there and missing the ones that were right in front of me. 

It's challenging to give a synopsis without significant spoilers, so I will remain purposefully vague. Oliver meets a man in Santorini and embarks on a holiday romance with a difference. Is he capable of murder? The story is told from a then/now perspective with a gap of 20 years between the two timelines. The first-person perspective took a little getting used to, and gave me similar vibes to the stalker character in "You" (I was minding my own business and then, I saw YOU. YOU were everything to me). It's rare for me to read (or even find) a first-person perspective book, another nod towards a more unique way of writing which also adds to the mystery - we don't know what ANYONE is thinking apart from the main character. It leaves so much open to interpretation, in a great, anticipatory, way. 

I would have loved for the book to have explored the "missing years" in more detail, as this really interested me.  It may have answered some of the questions I was left with. How did it change Oliver? How did his addiction present itself? What filled that time for him? What happened to his Dad? That being said, I feel that these questions were intentionally left unanswered to leave that lingering feeling of unease that the story ignited.  

Definitely a 4* read for me, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and finished it in less than 24 hours. It's nice to have found something that kept me on my toes and had me wanting more. B.P. Walter has been added to my list of authors I will be reading more books from!

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