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Revision as of 16:32, 27 August 2020
, 16:32, 27 August 2020no edit summary
A Victorian murder mystery with a plucky, headstrong prostitute braving the dangerous streets in order to find the killer and rescue her friends. It doesn't take much more than that to sell me on a book, so I picked up ''She Be Damned'' ready to curl up for a night of adventure and excitement. Does it deliver? Most definitely. Author MK Tjia sweeps the reader up into her world within moments – the dark, grubby streets of Victorian London brought to life in descriptive, well paced sentences that pull the reader in, keeping them hooked by providing them with cleverly drawn characters and a hugely compelling romp of a plot. The reader sees the story through the eyes of both Heloise and her assistant Amah Li Leen, allowing the author to play with the reader's view of the narrator somewhat and introducing an air of unpredictability that leads to some excellent twists later on.
There's always the danger that a book focusing on the murder of prostitutes could fall into a rather misogynistic hole, but Tjia avoids this with skill. Having the lead character be a former prostitute allows her a certain amount of insight into the lives of the girls killed, and even the shortest life is imbued with humanity and dignity from the author, preventing this from becoming a book that relies on cheap shocks to thrill the reader. In fact, both Heloise and Amah Li Leen are characters years ahead of her time – independent, strong -willed and fully in charge of their own agendas, yet fitting well into the world which Tjia has created – one in which men hold the positions of power, but where behind every man there are several strong women.
Fun, thrilling and very well written – ''She Be Damned'' is a carefully crafted adventure that I hugely enjoyed, and I look forward to seeing what the delightful Mrs Chancey gets up to next. Many thanks to the publishers for the copy, and for further reading I recommend [[The Queen's Man by Rory Clements]] – another adventurous and well -paced thriller that combines historical detail with a clever plot. We think you might also like [[Trades of the Flesh by Faye L Booth]].
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