Monday, January 3, 2022

Look what you made me do by Elaine Murphy

For the past ten years Carrie has been helping her older sister Becca move furniture.  Sounds innocent enough, but in Becca's case asking Carrie to help her move furniture is a euphemism for helping Becca dispose of a dead body.  It started with one body when they were teenagers, and the planting of evidence on the body that would lead back to Carrie if the body was ever discovered.  Suitably terrified of what could happen Carrie helped her sister, and helped her, and helped her until it just became the way they were.  If someone got in Becca's way she took them out and made Carrie help her - is it any surprise that Carrie is a bundle of resentful nerves towards her sister?

Becca is self-centered, does what she wants when she wants, and makes herself at home in Carrie's life as often as she likes.  Their parents know what Becca is like, but instead of dealing with it they moved away to a part of the country Becca can't stand - leaving Carrie to deal with her on her own.  When the latest piece of furniture they move happens to be someone that was up against Carrie for a promotion Carrie is worried it will be traced back to her in some way - something that is assured when multiple remains are found in the park where they buried the body.

Suddenly it seems as though the world is closing in - does Carrie really know her sister at all?  Although she denies being responsible for the other bodies, Carrie struggles to believe that there could be another serial killer in their little town - what are the chances?  Carrie knows what Becca is like though, and when things start happening that point the murder investigation in her direction, and items appear that look like someone is trying to frame Carrie for the murders, she finds it all too easy to believe that Becca is to blame.  Does Carrie know her sister as well as she thinks she does?

Look what you made me do was a surprise find that I had to read in one sitting because I didn't want to put it down.  The story starts with a bang, hooking you from the start, and dragging you through a psychological thriller.  There are so many parts of the story that are relateable - being the responsible sibling, helping your sibling clean up their messes (though not this literally), wondering if you are losing the plot when things aren't as they seem, and many many more.  The characters of Becca and Carrie are well defined and fully developed, the little bits and pieces of their shared memories and lives bringing them to life - and while there is an element of psychology and profiling the characters avoid the cliché minefield of crime novels.  

I read a lot of crime and thrillers and can get jaded with stories easily, especially if they 'fell' like other books or characters I have read - no fear of that with Look what you made me do.  While it would be challenging to come up with another fresh take on the serial killer genre, hopefully this is not the last book we see in this vein from Murphy as it was very, very good.

If you like this book then try:

Reviewed by Brilla

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