Book info

• Title Complicit
• Author Nicci French
• Year 2009
• Genre Thriller

Who is more deadly? An enemy? A friend? Or a lover? Bonnie Graham is in her friend's flat. She is alone, except for the dead body lying in a pool of blood. What happened? What will she do? And is any or all of it her fault? Bonnie is a music teacher who has spent a long, hot summer in London rehearsing with a band. It was supposed to be fun, but the tricky knots of the band's friendships unravel with each passing day. What was meant to be a summer of happiness, music and love turns deadly as lovers betray, passions turn homicidal and friendship itself becomes a crime. Someone in the band must be a killer. Is it Bonnie? And if not - who is it?

Thoughts

I liked the concept of this from the start - the story of a murder told in two halves. One aspect, from the moment it happened onwards, and the other, from way back leading up to the murder itself. The first quarter of the book didn’t quite live up to my expectations, it felt a little contrived to be introducing all these men as we readers were supposed to be desperately guessing which one was lying on the carpet with a dent in his skull.

However, once the satchel arrived and things started to get more convoluted, it got more and more interesting. There were plenty of characters to give the whodunit a sprawling feel, but the interconnectedness of the musician’s world meant it didn’t get out of hand.

I couldn’t quite get on board with the end result - would people really do such a thing? And how did Bonnie know that the guilty party wouldn’t suddenly turn on her? It was hard to feel sympathetic to these characters who were all guilty be varying degrees. However, I quite enjoyed the second half of the book regardless, and couldn’t help but read on to see how it all worked out.

Rating: 3 / 5