Book Review: "A Lesson in Cruelty" by Harriet Tyce

In and amongst looking for Prime Day offers on hairspray and deodrant, I came across my recommendations yet again and this bright green book popped up. Apart from the fact it is difficult enough to find a book looking so luminous, it was even less expected to find the Kindle version for such a reasonable price. The title was twisted enough, I could not make head or tale of it from the outset of the book and eventually, I started thinking about the characters more and who might be lying about things. I can tell you now, I honestly did not see that one coming. You might think you've guessed it about three quarters of the way through the book but you are so completely wrong it's unreal.

The book starts of with Anna. Anna is in prison when her cell-mate slits her own throat, killing herself. Anna tries to wake her the next morning only to find her dead. Initially questioned over the death, Anna is released when she is found not to be the culprit. Then she's hit by a car and eventually picked up by her solicitor - Tom Wright. Tom promises to take care of her but something is putting Anna on edge - she leaves to go somewhere else, somewhere she probably should not have gone.

Next we are introduced to Oxford MSc Criminology student, Lucy. Lucy is obsessed with her professor, Edgar. She wants to impress him any way she can and ends up working on projects with him, creating keynotes for events. When her friend, Alexandria mentions that Edgar's first wife died, Lucy wants to know how and why he has never ever mentioned her. She will soon find out that the word 'murdered' is on the mouths of everyone who knew her. And this time, it wasn't the husband.

We are then introduced to the elusive Marie who is caring for her friend Janice. Janice is probably best remembered by the public within the book as a woman who killed her own children. The words 'Britain's Most Hated Mother' ring in the headlines about her. Off the grid, Janice lives dependent on Marie and when Janice finally dies - Marie is free to complete some unfinished business she has with a few other people. One of them is Edgar.

On top of all of this we have letters and notes that litter the book. Things that look like notebook entries by two different people. One of them is angry and informs the recipient about an oncoming emotional storm, one that may include murder. Another details the story of two emotionally dependent people who are being studied like an experiment. Chapters entitled 'CCTV' make the story even more twisted and corrupt.

One thing I loved about this book was that from the outset of the three main stories, you have no idea how they are going to come together to create a greater narrative. There are small hints and clues here and there littered amongst the book with the prison system at its centre, but you have not got a clue about how big this situation is and how far it has stretched. The author does a fantastic job at keeping the reader hooked, questioning and guessing with constantly turning this story into something else by centralising it on different characters.

The characters are compelling and really quite interesting because of the fact that they are all different. Anna is at the centre initially and we see the entire world from her character existing in it, this is a different world to Lucy even though they are in the same city, and yet this is a completely different situation to Marie, Janice, Edgar, Victor, Tom and Rachel. All of these characters prove to be really important to the overall story and nobody feels like they are being wasted or are there for no reason. I honestly feel like I know these characters even though the book is not very long and doesn't drone on about them.

All in all, without giving too much away, this is a book which will challenge your ability to predict what is going on. It is a fantastic practice of misdirection and interpretation. You will see what you want to see until you are forced to see what is actually going on.