The Killer Question by Janice Hallett: To Read or Not to Read?
Hi Readers! Another Janice Hallett book done and dusted! It’s astounding to me how I always inhale her books. I may or may not be ‘in it’, but despite that very critical factor, I still finish her books very quickly! The previous two books of her that I read, I rated at 5/5 stars, – The Alperton Angels & The Examiner. So, naturally I had high hopes from this one. Read more to see if I liked it or not!
~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~
Janice Hallett, “the new queen of crime” (Electric Literature), returns with a fresh, edge-of-your-seat mystery that takes place at a pub’s weekly trivia night, revealed through quiz categories, phone messages, and email correspondence.
Sue and Mal Eastwood run an isolated rural pub called The Case is Altered where a weekly trivia game has revived its flagging fortunes—that is, until a body is found in the nearby river. Soon after, a mysterious new team arrives and shakes up the diverse field of regulars by scoring top marks in every round…every week.
Meanwhile, Sue and Mal have a secret of their own. Before arriving here, they were caught up in a secret police operation which meant they had to leave town—and whatever happened back then seems to have finally caught up with them.
Five years later, the pub lies derelict, and their nephew Dominic is determined to make a documentary about their story. What happened at this unassuming pub? And can a single question really kill?
~~THOUGHTS~~
The Killer Question revolves around Sue & Mal Eastwood, who are the landlords of a pub called ‘The Case is Altered’ which is tucked away at the end of a lonesome street in the countryside. Their specialty being Monday quizzes, we see a lot of characters who are all regulars at The Case for their quiz alone. We also see other pub landlords on the group chat. For the most part, we wonder whether the new team called ‘The Shadow Knights’ were genuine or cheating because they won every time, and by a big margin. We also find a dead body right outside The Case in the nearby river. n a parallel, we soon read about the Eastwoods’ previous lives before becoming landlords at the pub. Years later, their nephew Dominic wants to create a documentary of the whole thing.
One of the most compelling parts why I enjoy Hallett’s work is because of the epistolary format. She has mastered the art of story telling in the form of emails, texts, online reviews, chits of paper, audio recordings and whatnot. When I read her first book, it was difficult to follow, but now that I know what to expect, I enjoy them. It didn’t matter to me much that the book was over 400 pages because they whisked by rapidly, in the manner of 2 days.
But, my major problem with this book was the lack. Just a lot of lack of everything. Whether you pick Sue & Mal’s previous lives or current lives, it was all extremely straightforward. Sure, Dominic tried his best to add hooks after every 100 pages or so, but there was no shock factor. In the pub, I couldn’t care less about how the new team was cheating. Didn’t care much about the dead body or who would have murdered him. In the past life, it anyway looked so sketchy that I actually did not enjoy that writing much. There were too many characters, and surprisingly I didn’t care about any of them. And that big reveal at the end wasn’t much of a reveal because I had guessed something like that anyway. The entire plot was incredibly underwhelming after putting the reader through 400+ pages.
In The Alperton Angels, there was a cult who wanted to sacrifice a baby who was believed to be the Anti-Christ, and this followed with some paranormal elements. In The Examiner, six students were doing an MA course focusing on improving their artistic skills to make them employable in the real world. As someone who loves unbelievable and slightly unhinged stories, I loved the first book. And as an art admirer, I loved the second book. That *something* did not exist in The Killer Question. No absurdities. No lavish schemes. No unpredictability. Nothing wow about any characters. It felt flat and did not feel like the author’s best work. I have rated The Killer Question by Janice Hallett at 3/5 stars!
Here are the two reviews of Janice Hallett’s books which I loved:
Until next time,
About The Author
Aishwarya Shenolikar
Hello! I'm Aishwarya, an Introverted bookworm & writer. I have been reviewing books since 6 years on my blog - Mindscape in Words. My favourite genres are Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers, Magical Realism, Poetry, Fantasy & Memoirs. I like the kind of books which evoke emotions on several levels leaving me wrecked, but also incredibly content. I'm dreaming for the world to paint a landscape full of words, more like Mindscape in Words. Hope you enjoy the view.