The Magpies by Mark Edwards

Like all of Mark Edwards' books, I whizz through them. He has a very easy style that makes his books easy to read, and this one is no exception.

A simple story that many of us will identify with. As his tagline states, he writes about scary things that happen to ordinary people, and that is true in this book.

Neighbours. Noisy, annoying, rude. Of course, this story goes beyond that, but I know that sometimes I have questioned my sanity of over neighbours' behaviour and intentions and so there was a connection from the start.
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It will never be a great classic book (the language and phrases are very modern, simplistic and of our time) but the story kept me hooked from the beginning with a wonderful knack of producing subtle suspense. The neighbours are an interesting and eclectic mix and all through I'm wondering who the true weirdos are. Great example of a psychological thriller.

There are plenty of dark elements (dead rats, spiders, crying babies) plus marriage issues making this a good domestic noir tale. Sadly, I did not really connect with the central two characters very much, although I sympathise with their predicaments I didn't really care about them individually. Not too impressed with the sex scenes either, as they are descriptive rather than romantic or erotic, but they aren't too long-winded so - fair enough.

Overall I really did enjoy this book as a great modern work of dark fiction without the gore.

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Published by Thomas & Mercer on 19 September 2013.