She thinks it was murder.
But if she can’t trust herself, can anyone else?Nancy North and her boyfriend Felix are making the move across London to Harlesden. A new flat, a new area, a new start. Because while Nancy is fine now, she wasn’t fine before. But settling into the new flat and meeting the new neighbours isn’t helped by Felix’s hovering concern. She is all right. She is sticking to her breathing exercises and doctor-prescribed help.
So, when their new neighbour Kira Mullan is found dead by suicide, Felix is understandably worried about Nancy’s frame of mind. But Nancy saw Kira the day before she died and she didn’t strike her as someone who was suicidal – she was upset and angry, yes, but was she upset and angry enough to take her own life?
Nancy is the only one convinced that there’s more to Kira’s death than has been discovered. But all the police and the neighbours see is a vulnerable woman who isn’t sure of what she saw, and might even be imagining things . . .
Is Nancy imagining things, or are there more questions that should be asked about the last days of Kira Mullan?
I jumped at the chance to join the blog tour for The Last Days of Kira Mullan by Nicci French today as I loved Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? last summer and their new book features the same detective. My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me on to the tour and to the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book for the purpose of review. I have reviewed the book honestly and impartially.
What do you do when you are sure that a murder has been committed, but no one believes a word you say? This is the premise behind this book and, I have to say, it works absolutely perfectly. This book is stunning from start to finish, I could not put it down and finished it in record time. If you pick this book up, make sure you have plenty of time to read it because you’ll find it almost impossible to put down once you start.
Nancy North is the ultimate unreliable narrator. No one trusts her, she isn’t even sure she can trust herself half the time, so there is no way that the reader knows what or who to believe. Why is she so obsessed with the death of the woman downstairs who she barely knew and why is she convinced she did not commit suicide when everyone else thinks it is an open and shut case? You will go backwards and forwards wondering whose accounts can be trusted.
The authors have peopled this book with a cast of characters who brilliantly serve to complicate the plot even further. At first, they seem normal enough and supportive of Nancy, but over the course of the book, each of them have secrets and flaws that are revealed in a way that sows doubt as to their motives and roles in Kira Mullan’s life. The water is stirred and muddied constantly so you will be questioning everyone’s actions. This really ramps up the tension in the story and confuses the reader even more.
Some of the scenes in this book are traumatic and enraging to read. The treatment of Nancy in the middle of the book is so stressful, I hope it isn’t reflective of reality, and it serves to get the reader completely on her side, despite her problems. From this point on, I was willing someone to be on her side and look past what everyone else was saying about her and help her out. Enter Maud, quickly becoming one of my favourite characters in recent books. Maud is so calm and fair, even when she isn’t treated fairly herself, and the reader knows that, if anyone can help Nancy, it will be Maud. Maud is my hero and I could read about her every day of the week.
The Last Days of Kira Mullan is an almost perfect thriller and definitely my favourite book of the year so far. I know it’s early days, but it’s going to be a hard one to beat. I was wrong in my suspicions as to how this was going to end, I hated and loved characters in equal numbers but was completely obsessed with this book whilst I was reading it. A triumph, can’t wait for the next one.
About the Author
Nicci French is the pseudonym of English husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, who write psychological thrillers together.
Connect with Nicci French:
Facebook: Nicci French
Twitter: @FrenchNicci
