When I was asked to be on the review tour for this book I was so excited, one because the book sounded very interesting and two because it’s my first blog / book review tour. If you’re looking for a light, unique and easy to read murder mystery that has everything from oh-my-god moments to sad and happy twists, pick up a copy of Countdown To A Killing.
Countdown To A Killing is a story told through emails and messages, that lays out the correspondence between key individuals on the lead up to a murder. It mainly follows Wen Li, a British-Chinese woman who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and her new colleague Lomax Clipper. Other characters such as Julian Ponsonby, their manager, and Fifi de Angelis, a friend of Lomax, are also involved. The correspondence tells the tale of each characters life and the key incidents that lead to the ever-pending murder.
I will be honest, I was confused for the first couple pages as I just didn’t understand what was going on or who was who, as it just dives straight into the correspondence. But if you experience the same please stick with it!!! Once I got my head around the way this story was told, I was completely gripped. There is major The Appeal by Janice Hallett vibes about this book, but it is still very different and unique.
One of my favourite things about this book is the characters. Even through the messages and emails you get a great understanding of them, their characteristics and what makes them tick. This is especially seen through Wen, who I loved, as you really see her struggle with her OCD. Wen grows as a person throughout the book, learning how to live with her OCD and in turn having her confidence grow and grow. You can also see how naive and desperate Lomax can be, which really adds to his overall story. Overall, each character gets enough back story and personal anecdotes to let you connect with them without going over the top.
Tom approaches OCD really well in this book, or at least I believe so. I think in todays world we’re so fixated with OCD being about cleaning or having stuff in a certain order, that its hardly discussed in the full extent. But Tom doesn’t shy away from that, he shows how the intrusive thoughts can eat away at someone and ruin their relationships with family and friends.
Now, the ending. In terms of the murder I didn’t see it coming at all, I generally had to stop for a minute and take it in (of course I knew there was a murder but in the terms of who and how). Murder aside, the ending seemed quite abrupt. Although everything was answered and tied up, I just feel like it ended so suddenly. But I guess that was maybe the point, the books premise was the correspondence leading to a murder, so once it had happened the story would naturally end.
Thank you so much to Literally PR, RedDoor Press and Tom Vaughan Macaulay for inviting me on the review tour, it means a lot!!
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