A Wigwam for a Goose's Bridle

Marlowe and Lily are aspiring journalists. When Lily is murdered, Marlowe believes there is a cover up and sets about trying to find the truth.

I’m a bit on the fence reviewing this book. It was certainly a quick, easy read. It was well written enough to keep me interested even when it frustrated me. It used a couple of well worn tools: the gaslighting narrative (Who is telling the truth? Who is delusional?) and the book within a book. We start the novel with Marlowe in Sydney Opera House being interviewed about the book she wrote, which we then read before returning to the interview. This didn’t work for me as the inner book did not read like an autobiography/memoir of the issue. It read like someone trying to write a thriller. Which, hmm, on the one hand given the ending I guess it maybe works, but it just didn’t feel plausible.

The other thing that really made it difficult to read was censoring of words. There were story lines around homophobia (which kept being referred to as xenophobia instead) and when there was dialogue related to this, it would be written as f*ggot, p*offer or q*eer. Firstly, I don’t get this. I get that the words can be offensive, but it really jarred the reading experience. I feel like if the author wasn’t comfortable using the words where needed for narrative, maybe she should have picked a different story line.

I didn’t hate the book. It was indeed suspenseful and kept me interested. However I can’t say I liked it, and I don’t think I’d recommend it. Lots of potential triggers – mental health, suicide, child abuse and more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.