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Death of a Bookseller
A BOOKSHOP. A TRUE CRIME CASE. A DEADLY FRIENDSHIP.
THE UNMISSABLE DEBUT THRILLER.
Roach - bookseller, loner and true crime obsessive - is not interested in making friends. She has all the company she needs in her serial killer books, murder podcasts and her pet snail, Bleep.
That is, until Laura joins the bookshop.
Smelling of roses, with her cute literary tote bags and beautiful poetry, she's everyone's new favourite bookseller. But beneath the shiny veneer, Roach senses a darkness within Laura, the same darkness Roach possesses.
As Roach's curiosity blooms into morbid obsession, it becomes clear that she is prepared to infiltrate Laura's life at any cost.
THE UNMISSABLE DEBUT THRILLER.
Roach - bookseller, loner and true crime obsessive - is not interested in making friends. She has all the company she needs in her serial killer books, murder podcasts and her pet snail, Bleep.
That is, until Laura joins the bookshop.
Smelling of roses, with her cute literary tote bags and beautiful poetry, she's everyone's new favourite bookseller. But beneath the shiny veneer, Roach senses a darkness within Laura, the same darkness Roach possesses.
As Roach's curiosity blooms into morbid obsession, it becomes clear that she is prepared to infiltrate Laura's life at any cost.
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First published April 25, 2023
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April 25, 2023
Publication Day!
April 25, 2023
3.75⭐
If you think this going to be a cute cozy mystery set in a bookshop ( I’m partial to stories set in libraries and bookshops), just take a look at that cover (which I love, by the way)!
“I love serial killers.”
Brogan Roach is a bookseller, employed for the last eight years with the Walthamstow branch of chain bookstore Spines, and an avid (read obsessive) true crime enthusiast. Unlike “normies” who have a superficial interest in the subject, Roach (as she is referred to) is a passionate true-crime follower – books, podcasts, documentaries – there is no crime too gruesome nor any criminal too heinous that she flinches from researching in her free time. When Laura Bunting, a fellow bookseller transfers to her branch as a part of a team headed by a new manager, Roach discovers a copy of a true crime book in her bag (which she unashamedly rifles through in Laura’s absence) and believes she has found a kindred spirit.
Laura’s interest in true crime has its roots in personal tragedy. Her mother was the victim of a serial killer who was later caught and is presently incarcerated. Her poetry, which Roach is bowled over by, focuses on honoring the victims rather than glorifying the crime or the criminal behind it. But Laura’s demeanor towards Roach is cold and dismissive, bordering on unkind and cruel. Roach’s forced overtures of friendship and her obvious obsession with true –crime make Laura uncomfortable. However, Laura’s brush-offs only strengthen Roach’s resolve to establish a connection with her.
Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater is a slow-burn, psychological thriller that ventures into dark territory. The narrative is shared from dual PoVs of Roach and Laura in alternating segments. The writing and the characterizations are well done and the author gives us an inside look into the day-to-day routine of running bookstores. The narrative does suffer from mild repetitiveness but not so much that you would lose interest. Roach’s thoughts and actions are cringeworthy and to be honest alarming. Laura is depicted as emotionally fragile despite her unkind demeanor toward Roach. The author gives us a window into the psyches of two very different women, exploring their motivations, obsessions, flaws and strengths as they inevitably impact one another’s lives and emotional stability. I can’t say I liked any of the main characters. Laura is far from a well-rounded individual and isn't quite as put together as she projects. I found Roach’s toxic relationship with her boyfriend very disturbing especially based on her reaction to a particularly violent episode toward the beginning of their relationship. A testimonial to Roach’s dark worldview probably? I enjoyed the literary references and found some of the discussions and debates between the employees on different genres quite interesting (though I don’t completely agree with their stance on the true-crime genre). Overall this is an impressive debut and an intense read that will leave you dazed and unsettled.
Many thanks to author Alice Slater, Penzler Publishers and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
April 25, 2023
3.75⭐
If you think this going to be a cute cozy mystery set in a bookshop ( I’m partial to stories set in libraries and bookshops), just take a look at that cover (which I love, by the way)!
“I love serial killers.”
Brogan Roach is a bookseller, employed for the last eight years with the Walthamstow branch of chain bookstore Spines, and an avid (read obsessive) true crime enthusiast. Unlike “normies” who have a superficial interest in the subject, Roach (as she is referred to) is a passionate true-crime follower – books, podcasts, documentaries – there is no crime too gruesome nor any criminal too heinous that she flinches from researching in her free time. When Laura Bunting, a fellow bookseller transfers to her branch as a part of a team headed by a new manager, Roach discovers a copy of a true crime book in her bag (which she unashamedly rifles through in Laura’s absence) and believes she has found a kindred spirit.
Laura’s interest in true crime has its roots in personal tragedy. Her mother was the victim of a serial killer who was later caught and is presently incarcerated. Her poetry, which Roach is bowled over by, focuses on honoring the victims rather than glorifying the crime or the criminal behind it. But Laura’s demeanor towards Roach is cold and dismissive, bordering on unkind and cruel. Roach’s forced overtures of friendship and her obvious obsession with true –crime make Laura uncomfortable. However, Laura’s brush-offs only strengthen Roach’s resolve to establish a connection with her.
Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater is a slow-burn, psychological thriller that ventures into dark territory. The narrative is shared from dual PoVs of Roach and Laura in alternating segments. The writing and the characterizations are well done and the author gives us an inside look into the day-to-day routine of running bookstores. The narrative does suffer from mild repetitiveness but not so much that you would lose interest. Roach’s thoughts and actions are cringeworthy and to be honest alarming. Laura is depicted as emotionally fragile despite her unkind demeanor toward Roach. The author gives us a window into the psyches of two very different women, exploring their motivations, obsessions, flaws and strengths as they inevitably impact one another’s lives and emotional stability. I can’t say I liked any of the main characters. Laura is far from a well-rounded individual and isn't quite as put together as she projects. I found Roach’s toxic relationship with her boyfriend very disturbing especially based on her reaction to a particularly violent episode toward the beginning of their relationship. A testimonial to Roach’s dark worldview probably? I enjoyed the literary references and found some of the discussions and debates between the employees on different genres quite interesting (though I don’t completely agree with their stance on the true-crime genre). Overall this is an impressive debut and an intense read that will leave you dazed and unsettled.
Many thanks to author Alice Slater, Penzler Publishers and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
April 28, 2023
From the moment I started reading Death of a Bookseller, I was absolutely lost to the story – sucked down into it so completely I couldn’t think about anything else. Alice Slater has written a novel that sinks in its teeth and refuses to let go; I buzzed for days after finishing it.
Roach has worked at a beleaguered branch of Spines, a chain of bookshops, since she was a teenager. Solitary and obsessed with true crime (specifically the killers rather than the victims, whose stories she generally finds boring), Roach scoffs at ‘normies’ and spends much of her time listening to podcasts about famous murders. When a new team are brought in to reverse the shop’s fortunes, she meets a very different type of bookseller: the wholesome, stylish, friendly Laura. Fixating on the fact that Laura also reads about serial killers and writes poetry with dark themes, Roach starts fantasising about a friendship. But the two women’s clashing views about the ethics surrounding true crime turn Laura against her... something Roach is very reluctant to accept.
The narrative switches between the perspectives of the two main characters – a surprise to me, as from the blurb I’d assumed Roach would tell the whole story. At first, I was sceptical: could Laura’s viewpoint possibly be as interesting as Roach’s cynical, scathing voice? Would the story become lopsided? But Laura’s chapters bring a depth and complexity to her character that ultimately unlocks the power of the story.
Sometimes Roach sounds like such an insufferable not-like-other-girls, sometimes Laura sounds like a tryhard London literary type – there are points where both of them will make you roll your eyes. Yet as dark as Roach’s story gets, it’s hard not to extend compassion to her, because the narrative is always extending compassion to her too. It’s the same thing with Laura: she’s often an absolute mess, and we see how her behaviour parallels Roach’s in ways she’d no doubt be reluctant to admit – but we get why. If at first it seems clear that Roach is the dark and Laura the light, somewhere along the line both characters are painted such similar shades of grey that they blend and bleed into each other.
Something I also want to mention, that might easily get lost amid the irresistible momentum of the plot, is the power of the settings. I particularly loved Roach and Laura’s workplace, the bookshop itself. I could truly feel the atmosphere of the place: both cosy and decrepit. The story unfolds in the run-up to Christmas, and the writing absolutely nails the magic and the horror of being wrapped up in non-stop work at that time of year. (It’s also so good on the specifics of working in retail that it unlocked memories I hadn’t thought about for over a decade.)
My literary recipe for Death of a Bookseller would involve: the razor-sharp character studies and themes of obsession and envy in Looker and Kiss Me First; the heady atmosphere of The Poison Tree; the deliciously nasty underbelly of Boy Parts and Eileen; and the spiralling, unstable mood of Animals or Problems – especially as the story reaches its climax and the protagonists seem bound for disaster.
This is, naturally, a bookseller’s book. But it’s also for anyone who considers themselves a reader; likes true crime; anyone who hates it, or is disdainful towards it; anyone who has ever worked in a shop, or in customer service. And it’s also stealthily a book about grief. Like its characters, Death of a Bookseller contains more layers and subtleties you might first assume. This is a thrilling story of obsession with a dark, sticky soul – and it’s also so much more.
I received an advance review copy of Death of a Bookseller from the publisher, Hodder & Stoughton.
Roach has worked at a beleaguered branch of Spines, a chain of bookshops, since she was a teenager. Solitary and obsessed with true crime (specifically the killers rather than the victims, whose stories she generally finds boring), Roach scoffs at ‘normies’ and spends much of her time listening to podcasts about famous murders. When a new team are brought in to reverse the shop’s fortunes, she meets a very different type of bookseller: the wholesome, stylish, friendly Laura. Fixating on the fact that Laura also reads about serial killers and writes poetry with dark themes, Roach starts fantasising about a friendship. But the two women’s clashing views about the ethics surrounding true crime turn Laura against her... something Roach is very reluctant to accept.
The narrative switches between the perspectives of the two main characters – a surprise to me, as from the blurb I’d assumed Roach would tell the whole story. At first, I was sceptical: could Laura’s viewpoint possibly be as interesting as Roach’s cynical, scathing voice? Would the story become lopsided? But Laura’s chapters bring a depth and complexity to her character that ultimately unlocks the power of the story.
Sometimes Roach sounds like such an insufferable not-like-other-girls, sometimes Laura sounds like a tryhard London literary type – there are points where both of them will make you roll your eyes. Yet as dark as Roach’s story gets, it’s hard not to extend compassion to her, because the narrative is always extending compassion to her too. It’s the same thing with Laura: she’s often an absolute mess, and we see how her behaviour parallels Roach’s in ways she’d no doubt be reluctant to admit – but we get why. If at first it seems clear that Roach is the dark and Laura the light, somewhere along the line both characters are painted such similar shades of grey that they blend and bleed into each other.
Something I also want to mention, that might easily get lost amid the irresistible momentum of the plot, is the power of the settings. I particularly loved Roach and Laura’s workplace, the bookshop itself. I could truly feel the atmosphere of the place: both cosy and decrepit. The story unfolds in the run-up to Christmas, and the writing absolutely nails the magic and the horror of being wrapped up in non-stop work at that time of year. (It’s also so good on the specifics of working in retail that it unlocked memories I hadn’t thought about for over a decade.)
My literary recipe for Death of a Bookseller would involve: the razor-sharp character studies and themes of obsession and envy in Looker and Kiss Me First; the heady atmosphere of The Poison Tree; the deliciously nasty underbelly of Boy Parts and Eileen; and the spiralling, unstable mood of Animals or Problems – especially as the story reaches its climax and the protagonists seem bound for disaster.
This is, naturally, a bookseller’s book. But it’s also for anyone who considers themselves a reader; likes true crime; anyone who hates it, or is disdainful towards it; anyone who has ever worked in a shop, or in customer service. And it’s also stealthily a book about grief. Like its characters, Death of a Bookseller contains more layers and subtleties you might first assume. This is a thrilling story of obsession with a dark, sticky soul – and it’s also so much more.
I received an advance review copy of Death of a Bookseller from the publisher, Hodder & Stoughton.
March 14, 2026
If this was a romance novel, and if I was Laura, he’d reach forward and brush a snowflake away with his fingertips, run his hands through my blonde hair. I had a wild, ridiculous image of us melting into each other’s arms. Our lips could meet; we could leave the shop together.
But this wasn’t romance, and I wasn’t Laura. It was true crime, and I was Brogan Roach.
I really enjoyed this, but I can see why the average rating has suffered. It is marketed as a mystery/thriller whilst having none of the conventions of either genre— it’s actually better described as a character study about two very different women, both of them booksellers in a struggling indie in Walthamstow.
Complex characters are my favourite thing to read about, and this book has two of them. I like how each is unlikable in her own way and how, through each one's eyes, the other is deeply pretentious and annoying. It is a rare skill to be able to drastically change the reader's view when moving through perspectives, and Slater handles it marvellously.
Roach is a bit of an alternative personality. True-crime obsessed and a lifelong outsider, she is shunned by the normies for her appearance and unconventional interests. To her, Laura is a "PSL" (a pumpkin spice latte girl) who coordinates her shoes and beret, cliche and pedestrian, until Roach discovers Laura's connection to a serial killer and suddenly an obsession develops.
To Laura, Roach is a parasite relishing in the pain of murdered women with her true crime fixation. She finds her repulsive and, in a way, misogynistic. But the more Laura expresses her disdain, the more Roach oversteps, creeping into her life in increasingly intrusive ways.
Slater explores the clashes between these two completely incompatible humans, both within the bookshop and, later, on the outside. Roach remains the more interesting figure, but Laura's perspective is essential in her character analysis. We see both women's interior and exterior lives, and the author demonstrates the vast disparity between how we are seen by others and how we see ourselves.
November 17, 2022
Meet Roach (real name Brogan), she works in Spines, a bookshop in Walthamstow. She’s a Goth, a loner, dark if not morbid and obsessed with true crime. Oh, let’s not forget the pet snail, yes, that’s right a pet snail! Roach is quite happy (as much as she can be that is) working in the bookshop until Laura joins the staff. Laura seems bright, breezy, as sweet as the roses she smells of and the poetry she writes and looking so perky in her well considered outfits. Is her shiny exterior a veneer? Is she just a bit too well put together? At first Roach thinks she’s a ‘normie’ or a Pumpkin Spice Girl but she grows curious about her, sensing something that intrigues her which then develops into something distinctly uncomfortable. The story is told in short, sharp chapters and alternates between the two of them.
I think it’s absolutely fair to say that neither character is likeable but in this case that’s what makes this debut fascinating. Both perspectives have toe curling moments but it’s especially awkward if not disturbing inside Roach’s head and as for some of her actions - oh boy!! The contrast between them is stark as Laura finds Roach embarrassing from the start and dislike positively oozes from her pores. Roach’s initial derision makes it seem they are polar opposites but as we dig deeper the realisation grows that there are similarities. The rundown bookshop in desperate need of refurbishment is a great backdrop to the developing drama and a good metaphor.
The novel starts slowly but you just have to wait for it to brew from a simmer to a rapid boil and then the venom takes your breath away. This is especially true of some dialogue which has very sharp teeth! It becomes a nightmarish scenario driven by obsession with boundaries distinctly crossed, becoming a twisted fearful tale frequently backlit by the true crime element.
I really like the symmetry of the ending and overall this is an immersive, dark and well written novel which the excellent cover really captures.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Penzler Publishers, Scarlet for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
I think it’s absolutely fair to say that neither character is likeable but in this case that’s what makes this debut fascinating. Both perspectives have toe curling moments but it’s especially awkward if not disturbing inside Roach’s head and as for some of her actions - oh boy!! The contrast between them is stark as Laura finds Roach embarrassing from the start and dislike positively oozes from her pores. Roach’s initial derision makes it seem they are polar opposites but as we dig deeper the realisation grows that there are similarities. The rundown bookshop in desperate need of refurbishment is a great backdrop to the developing drama and a good metaphor.
The novel starts slowly but you just have to wait for it to brew from a simmer to a rapid boil and then the venom takes your breath away. This is especially true of some dialogue which has very sharp teeth! It becomes a nightmarish scenario driven by obsession with boundaries distinctly crossed, becoming a twisted fearful tale frequently backlit by the true crime element.
I really like the symmetry of the ending and overall this is an immersive, dark and well written novel which the excellent cover really captures.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Penzler Publishers, Scarlet for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
May 30, 2023
1 / 5
It was bad enough that it made me want to finish the book to see how much the ending added to it. This book is literal horse****. I’m just happy my local library paid for this book and not me because you could save abit just avoiding this read. I genuinely cannot see how you even give this book anymore than 1 star. You gotta give credit to who ever is running the marketing for this book, because they for sure know how to scam and sell literal bollocks.
AVOID. THIS. BOOK. AT. ALL. COST!!
This book was not it, it was repetitive, it was creepy to a stalker level giving me ‘You’ vibes (Netflix Joe Goldberg vibes, but it didn’t have the edge to it at all). Its not psychological, in my eyes it’s not really a thriller. It doesn’t give thriller vibes. I just felt like the purpose of the book is what it says on the tin. And it didn’t live up to it. I hated the premise of it, questionable characters that I could not connect with. Sorry but does anyone in the book shower? Personal hygiene is a must and it looks as though Roach (one of the main characters) doesn’t which is grim. The descriptions of the character and the environment makes me question if they’ve seen a washing machine?? The premise of the plot was pointless, no offence but what made you think to write a book about a booksellers and linking true crime/ serial killers in with it, but nothing of that kind ever happens to the main characters. It’s only linked because of a link to them through an event. I found the book fraudulent in what it was trying to sell. It was not it.
In all honesty, I can’t even explain the book because nothing major happens. It’s basically two booksellers of the complete opposite work in the same store. And they’re linked through true crime/ poetry and serial killers. That’s it. And the book goes about how one of them stalks the other. With descriptions about there environment that reminds me of being in uni where some people clearly haven’t been house trained. One doesn’t like the other whilst one can’t accept it. It’s cringey, it’s awful, the characters are not even likeable they’re both repugnant human beings. How is this getting 4 stars????
It’s almost as bad as making a cereal pouring the milk first then the cereal but instead of the milk it’s just water. I don’t think I’ve disliked a book more, and felt so passionately against it.
Go use your time and invest it reading something else. I don’t understand how it’s even sold in store as thrillers or psychological .
It was bad enough that it made me want to finish the book to see how much the ending added to it. This book is literal horse****. I’m just happy my local library paid for this book and not me because you could save abit just avoiding this read. I genuinely cannot see how you even give this book anymore than 1 star. You gotta give credit to who ever is running the marketing for this book, because they for sure know how to scam and sell literal bollocks.
AVOID. THIS. BOOK. AT. ALL. COST!!
This book was not it, it was repetitive, it was creepy to a stalker level giving me ‘You’ vibes (Netflix Joe Goldberg vibes, but it didn’t have the edge to it at all). Its not psychological, in my eyes it’s not really a thriller. It doesn’t give thriller vibes. I just felt like the purpose of the book is what it says on the tin. And it didn’t live up to it. I hated the premise of it, questionable characters that I could not connect with. Sorry but does anyone in the book shower? Personal hygiene is a must and it looks as though Roach (one of the main characters) doesn’t which is grim. The descriptions of the character and the environment makes me question if they’ve seen a washing machine?? The premise of the plot was pointless, no offence but what made you think to write a book about a booksellers and linking true crime/ serial killers in with it, but nothing of that kind ever happens to the main characters. It’s only linked because of a link to them through an event. I found the book fraudulent in what it was trying to sell. It was not it.
In all honesty, I can’t even explain the book because nothing major happens. It’s basically two booksellers of the complete opposite work in the same store. And they’re linked through true crime/ poetry and serial killers. That’s it. And the book goes about how one of them stalks the other. With descriptions about there environment that reminds me of being in uni where some people clearly haven’t been house trained. One doesn’t like the other whilst one can’t accept it. It’s cringey, it’s awful, the characters are not even likeable they’re both repugnant human beings. How is this getting 4 stars????
It’s almost as bad as making a cereal pouring the milk first then the cereal but instead of the milk it’s just water. I don’t think I’ve disliked a book more, and felt so passionately against it.
Go use your time and invest it reading something else. I don’t understand how it’s even sold in store as thrillers or psychological .
July 17, 2023
4.5 stars
So freaking good, with some of the best character writing I’ve read in years. Messy heroines, dark humor, and an utterly engrossing examination of how feelings of kinship can lead to obsession, and so easily cross the line. As a former bookseller of many years, the bookstore setting is so familiar, too. An incredible debut.
Audio Notes: Both narrators were superb, especially Roach. Her performance, paired with the masterful writing that reveals things to the audience the character herself isn’t even aware of, strikes exactly the right tone. You feel impatience and sympathy and revulsion and a weird affection for this ticking time bomb all at once—and slowly, you start to realize that the pleasant, professional bookseller she desperately wants to befriend isn’t perfect, either.
So freaking good, with some of the best character writing I’ve read in years. Messy heroines, dark humor, and an utterly engrossing examination of how feelings of kinship can lead to obsession, and so easily cross the line. As a former bookseller of many years, the bookstore setting is so familiar, too. An incredible debut.
Audio Notes: Both narrators were superb, especially Roach. Her performance, paired with the masterful writing that reveals things to the audience the character herself isn’t even aware of, strikes exactly the right tone. You feel impatience and sympathy and revulsion and a weird affection for this ticking time bomb all at once—and slowly, you start to realize that the pleasant, professional bookseller she desperately wants to befriend isn’t perfect, either.
May 28, 2023
I had been looking forward to this as a fast holiday read but it's so slow and repetitive that I eventually just gave up and read the last couple of chapters and the epilogues - and didn't feel I missed much. The tired format of switcharound chapters from Roach and Laura each speaking in the 1st person did conceal some interesting material on the true crime genre but ultimately this felt more derivative than I wanted. From the typical You-style stalking, with gestures towards Patricia Highsmith's obsession with snails, I struggled to find anything here to keep my attention.
June 5, 2023
I'm back at reading more mysteries, so here I chose this gorgeous cover, I love the colors very much.
Londoner true crime addict and bookseller Roach believes she found her counterpart in life when Laura starts working at the same bookstore, and she becomes quickly obsessed when she finds out that Laura’s mother was killed by a serial killer. She believes it is fate, that this is her own personal true crime case. But Laura wants nothing to do with the younger woman and keeps her distance. Does she have something to hide or is Roach a deranged stalker after all?
A slow and repetitive thriller who, unfortunately, does not thrill much. What kept me reading was my initial sympathy for Roach and her ways, even though she lost my understanding later on. I appreciate the reflection on the morality of reading or writing true crime and the discussions revolving around it. As a person who doesn’t enjoy or read that genre I was unaware of controversies like making entertainment out of someone’s pain or that it’s apparently often about cases in which women are victims and there are sickos who get off on that. I’m still not interested in the genre and this was maybe a nice pastime but not much more.
2.5 maybe.
Londoner true crime addict and bookseller Roach believes she found her counterpart in life when Laura starts working at the same bookstore, and she becomes quickly obsessed when she finds out that Laura’s mother was killed by a serial killer. She believes it is fate, that this is her own personal true crime case. But Laura wants nothing to do with the younger woman and keeps her distance. Does she have something to hide or is Roach a deranged stalker after all?
A slow and repetitive thriller who, unfortunately, does not thrill much. What kept me reading was my initial sympathy for Roach and her ways, even though she lost my understanding later on. I appreciate the reflection on the morality of reading or writing true crime and the discussions revolving around it. As a person who doesn’t enjoy or read that genre I was unaware of controversies like making entertainment out of someone’s pain or that it’s apparently often about cases in which women are victims and there are sickos who get off on that. I’m still not interested in the genre and this was maybe a nice pastime but not much more.
2.5 maybe.
July 19, 2023
A dark, chilling novel on obsession and the ethical ambiguity of true crime fascination. Told in an intimate and haunting set of perspectives, Death of a Bookseller hears from both the exploiter and the exploited, the super-fan and the defender of victims. The discussion around the ethical issues surrounding true crime as a form that dances between the lines of activism and entertainment, as well as the obsession that consumers develop with violent individuals and their crimes, is told in a deeply unsettling way; it is eye opening and uncomfortable, and is sure to open up many debates. This is also a uniquely styled tributes to bookshops as a whole, how their inner workings can sway reading trends and harbor a sanctuary for those who consider books as old friends. Overall a fresh and deeply upsetting read that is timely, compelling, and a nail biting page turner.
May 15, 2023
Thank you to the author Alice Slater, publishers Scarlet and W. W. Norton, and Edelweiss, for an advance digital copy of DEATH OF A BOOK SELLER.
This book held me like fists around my lungs and didn't let go until the very end, which I did not see coming, by the way. Bodie Roach is a bookseller (someone who works in a bookstore) in London, not in love with her job, or her place living with her mom, whom she could also take or leave, or her job, except that it allows her to order and read books without ever paying. And she really only likes one kind of book-- true crime books, double points if they're about serial killers.
When Laura joins the book store staff, she knows right away that something is off about Roach. But Roach can tell something is off about the pretty, perfect Laura as well. These two are destined to be besties.
I didn't know what to expect from this book going in, and honestly not knowing anything makes this book ten times better. That's why I skimped so much on my story blurb. This is a well executed plot, that burns slow. Be patient while it unfolds. Slater wants you to chew yours nails to the quick, waiting for the next turn in the story.
I think Slater's execution of Brodie as a character is so well done. Again, I don't want to give too many details here so I don't ruin the book, but she is terrifying and pitiful, a brilliant antagonist force. Character work in general here is very fine.
Rating: 🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌 / 5 slimy snails
Recommend? Yes!
Finished: February 9 2023
Read this book if you like:
🔪 Mystery thrillers
📚 Bookish stories
🩶 Morally grey characters
📰 True crime
👤 Psychological thrillers
This book held me like fists around my lungs and didn't let go until the very end, which I did not see coming, by the way. Bodie Roach is a bookseller (someone who works in a bookstore) in London, not in love with her job, or her place living with her mom, whom she could also take or leave, or her job, except that it allows her to order and read books without ever paying. And she really only likes one kind of book-- true crime books, double points if they're about serial killers.
When Laura joins the book store staff, she knows right away that something is off about Roach. But Roach can tell something is off about the pretty, perfect Laura as well. These two are destined to be besties.
I didn't know what to expect from this book going in, and honestly not knowing anything makes this book ten times better. That's why I skimped so much on my story blurb. This is a well executed plot, that burns slow. Be patient while it unfolds. Slater wants you to chew yours nails to the quick, waiting for the next turn in the story.
I think Slater's execution of Brodie as a character is so well done. Again, I don't want to give too many details here so I don't ruin the book, but she is terrifying and pitiful, a brilliant antagonist force. Character work in general here is very fine.
Rating: 🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌 / 5 slimy snails
Recommend? Yes!
Finished: February 9 2023
Read this book if you like:
🔪 Mystery thrillers
📚 Bookish stories
🩶 Morally grey characters
📰 True crime
👤 Psychological thrillers
December 2, 2022
I don't know what to say about this book. I have so many conflicting thoughts. For starters, I wonder why anyone would give it more than 1 star.
TW: SA
When I first saw this book, I was excited. I was so thankful I got the arc from Netgalley! Like WOW, this book sounded so good. And the cover? Chefs kiss. Truly pulled me in. The synopsis explains that there is a girl named Roach (interesting name) who is into true crime (love a good mystery) and meets a girl named Laura and she feels intrigued by her. She soon realizes there is more to Laura than meets the eye... DUN DUN DUNNNNN
The synopsis is a lie.
The first few pages of the book really details out who our main character is. She is judgmental. She puts other women down. She is whiny. She thinks she is superior to everyone around her. And she is simple minded, a child really. I could not stand the main character and I was incredibly upset with the author for trying to make us not like the victim of the story.
Roach becomes so obsessed with Laura that she steals her poetry, her rapey boyfriend tries to publish it, and then she LIES and pretends she didn't blatantly plagerise. When I tell you that this was the worst book ever written ever... that's an understatement.
The writer glorified a sick girl who manipulates everyone around her. The writer made this character seem misunderstood whe she wasn't at all. The writer also made the victim look crazy and like she deserved to be murdered! Let me make this very clear: NO ONE DESERVES TO BE MURDERED. Also, very early in the book, Roach meets a guy who casually rapes her and then she's just fine with it? She lost her virginity to this guy and then he asks her all of these disgusting innappropriate questions and she just tells him what he wants to hear. They are both derranged but he needed to be arrested for simply breathing in the general direction of the human population. He was possibly the worst book boyfriend I have ever read ever.
At the end of the book, Roach gets away with everything. Nothing happens to her. And Laura? The victim? She is seen as the person who went crazy and caused all this drama. That everything was always in her head. I have never hated a book from beggining, middle, end, as much as I did this one.
I really didn't want to write this review because I don't want anyone to read this book. I figured if no one talked about it, then maybe no one would read it. But there are so many positive reviews on Goodreads that I felt like I needed to make sure people understood, THIS IS A BAD BOOK.
TW: SA
When I first saw this book, I was excited. I was so thankful I got the arc from Netgalley! Like WOW, this book sounded so good. And the cover? Chefs kiss. Truly pulled me in. The synopsis explains that there is a girl named Roach (interesting name) who is into true crime (love a good mystery) and meets a girl named Laura and she feels intrigued by her. She soon realizes there is more to Laura than meets the eye... DUN DUN DUNNNNN
The synopsis is a lie.
The first few pages of the book really details out who our main character is. She is judgmental. She puts other women down. She is whiny. She thinks she is superior to everyone around her. And she is simple minded, a child really. I could not stand the main character and I was incredibly upset with the author for trying to make us not like the victim of the story.
Roach becomes so obsessed with Laura that she steals her poetry, her rapey boyfriend tries to publish it, and then she LIES and pretends she didn't blatantly plagerise. When I tell you that this was the worst book ever written ever... that's an understatement.
The writer glorified a sick girl who manipulates everyone around her. The writer made this character seem misunderstood whe she wasn't at all. The writer also made the victim look crazy and like she deserved to be murdered! Let me make this very clear: NO ONE DESERVES TO BE MURDERED. Also, very early in the book, Roach meets a guy who casually rapes her and then she's just fine with it? She lost her virginity to this guy and then he asks her all of these disgusting innappropriate questions and she just tells him what he wants to hear. They are both derranged but he needed to be arrested for simply breathing in the general direction of the human population. He was possibly the worst book boyfriend I have ever read ever.
At the end of the book, Roach gets away with everything. Nothing happens to her. And Laura? The victim? She is seen as the person who went crazy and caused all this drama. That everything was always in her head. I have never hated a book from beggining, middle, end, as much as I did this one.
I really didn't want to write this review because I don't want anyone to read this book. I figured if no one talked about it, then maybe no one would read it. But there are so many positive reviews on Goodreads that I felt like I needed to make sure people understood, THIS IS A BAD BOOK.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 24, 2023
Though the title implies this is a grab-a-cup-of-tea-and-plunk-a-cat-on-your-lap cozy mystery . . . there's nothing cozy, or even mysterious about this book.
Roach hates "normies" - golden, smiling women who love pumpkin spice lattes. She's heavily into true crime, both books and podcasts, and once followed "school shooters like rock stars."
Laura, even her name exudes sighs of happiness, and sun-drenched blondness - a Pumpkin Spice Girl if there ever was one, now works at the same chain bookstore as Roach.
When Roach spots a copy of I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer in Laura's bag, she thinks she's found something of a soulmate in her fellow employee. Laura, it turns out, is actually disgusted by true crime, and is not overly fond of Roach.
"I feel like she's circling me. She's always there, always watching me, always trying to get my attention." she says.
But, Roach is convinced they should be friends, and is puzzled by Laura's lack of interest, saying, "She thinks she's better than me. We have so much in common, loads and loads, but she doesn't give a shit."
Even if you didn't know the title, you can see that this isn't going to end well . . .
What an absorbing page-turner, with a twisty, Single White Female vibe! Highly recommended to anyone looking for an engrossing thriller.
Thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton, who also supplied a physical ARC.
Roach hates "normies" - golden, smiling women who love pumpkin spice lattes. She's heavily into true crime, both books and podcasts, and once followed "school shooters like rock stars."
Laura, even her name exudes sighs of happiness, and sun-drenched blondness - a Pumpkin Spice Girl if there ever was one, now works at the same chain bookstore as Roach.
When Roach spots a copy of I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer in Laura's bag, she thinks she's found something of a soulmate in her fellow employee. Laura, it turns out, is actually disgusted by true crime, and is not overly fond of Roach.
"I feel like she's circling me. She's always there, always watching me, always trying to get my attention." she says.
But, Roach is convinced they should be friends, and is puzzled by Laura's lack of interest, saying, "She thinks she's better than me. We have so much in common, loads and loads, but she doesn't give a shit."
Even if you didn't know the title, you can see that this isn't going to end well . . .
What an absorbing page-turner, with a twisty, Single White Female vibe! Highly recommended to anyone looking for an engrossing thriller.
Thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton, who also supplied a physical ARC.
July 26, 2023
Just not for me at all wish I passed on this one.
April 26, 2023
Alice Slater’s compelling debut is a brooding tale of obsession told from the alternating perspectives of two women, Roach and Laura thrown together through their jobs at a struggling bookshop in Walthamstow, an up-and-coming area of London. Both are drawn to true crime but for vastly different reasons. Roach is a veteran fan of true crime, much of her spare time taken up by podcasts, shows and books that delve into the practices and processes of serial killers from Ted Bundy to the Manson family. Laura’s drawn to similar narratives but for her it’s all about the victims, something that’s rooted in a traumatic incident from her childhood. Isolated and socially awkward, Roach outwardly despises the normies all around her but something about Laura makes her yearn for connection, while Laura’s repelled by Roach and her associations with the seamy and the salacious, as well as her shabby, down-at-heel appearance. Then a chance event gives Roach the perfect opportunity to get closer to Laura, in ways Laura could never have imagined.
Slater’s intelligent, slow-burning novel reminded me of work by writers like Louise Welsh and Caroline Kepnes - there’s more than a trace of Kepnes’s Joe in the character of Roach, albeit without Joe’s surface charm. Although Slater delights in setting up links that she gradually demolishes or transforms into unexpected variations on the classic red herring. Her narrative is atmospheric, carefully grounded in her background as a long-time Walthamstow local and former Waterstones’ bookseller - her portrayal of the daily organisation, the petty rivalries and resentments bubbling behind the scenes, in the fictional Spines bookshop are meticulously detailed, convincing and surprisingly fascinating. Her story also builds on extensive research into the true crime genre and its fandom, all of which inform the character of Roach who likes to ‘creepy crawl’ like the Mansons, and, like Patricia Highsmith, is closely bonded with a pet snail. The outwardly polished Laura with her bookworm tote bags and love of literary fiction is less obviously attracted to images of death and violence, although their lure are revealed in her attempts at writing, her poetry performances composed from mash-ups of “found” words and snippets gleaned from the pages of true crime.
Slater’s prose is well-crafted, as you might expect from a graduate of East Anglia’s prestigious writing programme. Her story is character rather than plot driven, leisurely paced, it could benefit from a little trimming. But I liked the way that she managed to work within the conventions of this subgenre of psychological crime and simultaneously subvert them. At first, I was worried that Roach was too obviously founded on dangerous stereotypes: the friendless, social misfit who most likely harbours psychopathic tendencies, surrounded by battered paperbacks bursting with tales of bloody, sadistic murders. It’s a popular notion of the true crime reader, who’re mostly women, despite evidence its followers tend to be more invested in survival than slaughter, often desperate for an outlet for overwhelming cultural anxieties and fears. It’s a perception that’s had harmful consequences like the dubious conviction of Damien Echols whose choice of clothes and fascination with Aleister Crowley were key tools for his prosecutors; it also neglects the genre’s more positive influence, the popularity of stories about Ruth Ellis and Derek Bentley, a major contribution to the shift in social attitudes that led to the abolition of the death penalty in England, Scotland and Wales. But fortunately, although she doesn’t entirely abandon it, Slater does depart from the standard script, building in a series of unanticipated twists and turns which force a reassessment of her central characters - although I can see her choice of ending being a divisive one.
Thanks to Netgalley and to publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Rating: 3.5
Slater’s intelligent, slow-burning novel reminded me of work by writers like Louise Welsh and Caroline Kepnes - there’s more than a trace of Kepnes’s Joe in the character of Roach, albeit without Joe’s surface charm. Although Slater delights in setting up links that she gradually demolishes or transforms into unexpected variations on the classic red herring. Her narrative is atmospheric, carefully grounded in her background as a long-time Walthamstow local and former Waterstones’ bookseller - her portrayal of the daily organisation, the petty rivalries and resentments bubbling behind the scenes, in the fictional Spines bookshop are meticulously detailed, convincing and surprisingly fascinating. Her story also builds on extensive research into the true crime genre and its fandom, all of which inform the character of Roach who likes to ‘creepy crawl’ like the Mansons, and, like Patricia Highsmith, is closely bonded with a pet snail. The outwardly polished Laura with her bookworm tote bags and love of literary fiction is less obviously attracted to images of death and violence, although their lure are revealed in her attempts at writing, her poetry performances composed from mash-ups of “found” words and snippets gleaned from the pages of true crime.
Slater’s prose is well-crafted, as you might expect from a graduate of East Anglia’s prestigious writing programme. Her story is character rather than plot driven, leisurely paced, it could benefit from a little trimming. But I liked the way that she managed to work within the conventions of this subgenre of psychological crime and simultaneously subvert them. At first, I was worried that Roach was too obviously founded on dangerous stereotypes: the friendless, social misfit who most likely harbours psychopathic tendencies, surrounded by battered paperbacks bursting with tales of bloody, sadistic murders. It’s a popular notion of the true crime reader, who’re mostly women, despite evidence its followers tend to be more invested in survival than slaughter, often desperate for an outlet for overwhelming cultural anxieties and fears. It’s a perception that’s had harmful consequences like the dubious conviction of Damien Echols whose choice of clothes and fascination with Aleister Crowley were key tools for his prosecutors; it also neglects the genre’s more positive influence, the popularity of stories about Ruth Ellis and Derek Bentley, a major contribution to the shift in social attitudes that led to the abolition of the death penalty in England, Scotland and Wales. But fortunately, although she doesn’t entirely abandon it, Slater does depart from the standard script, building in a series of unanticipated twists and turns which force a reassessment of her central characters - although I can see her choice of ending being a divisive one.
Thanks to Netgalley and to publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Rating: 3.5
March 3, 2024
2.5 stars.
February 23, 2023
On paper, this should have been an ideal read for me - morally ambiguous characters, dual narratives, the world of book selling. I stopped the story about a third of the way through because both women were so unlikeable and I was repulsed by each of their narratives - how stuck up and selfish Laura was, how weird and cringy Roach was. Adding to that, it was really repetitive. I got the dynamic between them and why Roach was enthralled with Laura, and why Laura was repelled by Roach…but it felt like they had the same interaction time and time again. It made me feel depressed. I skipped to the end of the book, read the epilogues and felt like I hadn’t really missed anything by skipping two thirds of the book. The last chapter is good but not worth slogging through the book to get to it. It’s not a book I could recommend to my fellow fans of thrillers or book themed reads. Thank you to the author, her publisher and NetGalley for the chance to review an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
June 11, 2023
This is a solid 3.5 for me. Slow burn that makes the blood run cold…this one was definitely a dark read.
The story took quite awhile to ramp up - sometimes I don’t mind that if it really plays into the storyline, but this one really took longer than I think necessary. The storyline itself I thought was decent and the authors writing style made for the most uncomfortable reading sections (but not in a bad way if you like the dark stuff). It was just super gruesome/gory/disgusting at times fo me. The other thing that was lacking was the development of secondary characters. Had that been better, it would have really added to the storyline for me.
You have a typical antagonist and protagonist on the surface, but the mystery, secrets and true-crime touches really make this one more fun for me than anything. This is a mix of psychological thriller / podcast obsession / amateur sleuth vibes with a slow unraveling of “things are not always as they appear”.
The story took quite awhile to ramp up - sometimes I don’t mind that if it really plays into the storyline, but this one really took longer than I think necessary. The storyline itself I thought was decent and the authors writing style made for the most uncomfortable reading sections (but not in a bad way if you like the dark stuff). It was just super gruesome/gory/disgusting at times fo me. The other thing that was lacking was the development of secondary characters. Had that been better, it would have really added to the storyline for me.
You have a typical antagonist and protagonist on the surface, but the mystery, secrets and true-crime touches really make this one more fun for me than anything. This is a mix of psychological thriller / podcast obsession / amateur sleuth vibes with a slow unraveling of “things are not always as they appear”.
March 13, 2023
3.5 stars - I cannot get into too many details because of spoilers, but this ended up not being my kind of trope combo. That said, this was a well executed dark character study examining the twisted nature of jealousy and competition between women, and had a lot to say about true crime's cultural impact. A very promising debut!
January 26, 2025
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned ignored."
- From the Urban Dictionary, "The act of making a woman so furious that nothing will satisfy them but destruction of the object or person they loathe."
The true crime genre is one I’ve never been drawn to and I can’t pretend to understand its fascination (or obsession) for some. It’s just too morbid. Yet this is the pastime of purple haired bookseller Roach. Working in a quiet run down branch of a well-known chain bookstore, she spends her time feeding her obsession. Ordering in books as customer requests that in fact she wishes to read for herself. Life is routine, living above a pub that her gregarious mother owns, the more quiet Roach spends evenings in her room reading her books and spending time with her pet African land snail Bleep.
One day merges into another until the sunny, blonde haired, beret wearing Laura Bunting breezes into the store. The light to Roach’s shade. Even her name sounds like summer evenings. Laura arrives at the store as part of a small team of expert booksellers to try to turn around the Walthamstow branch of “Spines”. A chance discovery (ok, Roach rummaged through Laura’s tote in the lunchroom) of a true crime novel had Roach mistakenly assume she’d met a kindred spirit and another true crime fan in Laura. However this couldn’t be further from the truth. Laura’s interest in the book has much darker and tragic reasons behind it. And so begins Roach’s obsession to have a friendship with Laura, and the harder she tries, the more she repels Laura, like two opposing magnets.
”The universe had flexed, the stars had aligned, and two kindred spirits had crossed paths.”
Oh how much Roach wished for this to be so!
This is a great story which takes you into the day to day workings of a bookstore. The sights, sounds and smells of working with books. As a bookaholic I really enjoyed this feature intertwined with the overlapping stories of Laura and Roach. Alternate chapters are told in the first person by each, and bit by bit, we find out how dark both of their secrets are.
There were moments when I felt an inkling of pity for Roach, but that didn’t last long. She’s likely to be someone you wouldn’t want to have a prolonged conversation with in the tearoom at work.
I was intrigued by the themes of obsession and moral compass. How far would you go to make a new friend? How much is too much? And the story handles grief beautifully, how difficult it is to handle and how much are you obliged to share with others, especially in the case of a public tragedy.
”There’s no resolution to grief, no happy ending.”
This is a cautious tale of being friendlier to your co-workers. Especially those you don’t particularly like.
A really terrific début novel, which was a real page turner. Ms. Slater delved deep into what made each of her protagonists tick. And Bleep! What an utterly fantastic name for a pet mollusc. And very clever as the renowned psychological thriller and short story Writer Patricia Highsmith also had an (unhealthy) obsession with them. I read a bio of hers years ago, and snails featured liberally in it. So extra kudos for this homage!
I was taken completely by surprise with how much I enjoyed this and am so glad I stumbled upon it. And the open-ended ending is just as I like it.
”For the first time in years, our dark connection sparks. The sea air stirs the wind chimes, and the front door opens. As she steps into the hall, I take a deep breath and smell roses.”
- From the Urban Dictionary, "The act of making a woman so furious that nothing will satisfy them but destruction of the object or person they loathe."
The true crime genre is one I’ve never been drawn to and I can’t pretend to understand its fascination (or obsession) for some. It’s just too morbid. Yet this is the pastime of purple haired bookseller Roach. Working in a quiet run down branch of a well-known chain bookstore, she spends her time feeding her obsession. Ordering in books as customer requests that in fact she wishes to read for herself. Life is routine, living above a pub that her gregarious mother owns, the more quiet Roach spends evenings in her room reading her books and spending time with her pet African land snail Bleep.
One day merges into another until the sunny, blonde haired, beret wearing Laura Bunting breezes into the store. The light to Roach’s shade. Even her name sounds like summer evenings. Laura arrives at the store as part of a small team of expert booksellers to try to turn around the Walthamstow branch of “Spines”. A chance discovery (ok, Roach rummaged through Laura’s tote in the lunchroom) of a true crime novel had Roach mistakenly assume she’d met a kindred spirit and another true crime fan in Laura. However this couldn’t be further from the truth. Laura’s interest in the book has much darker and tragic reasons behind it. And so begins Roach’s obsession to have a friendship with Laura, and the harder she tries, the more she repels Laura, like two opposing magnets.
”The universe had flexed, the stars had aligned, and two kindred spirits had crossed paths.”
Oh how much Roach wished for this to be so!
This is a great story which takes you into the day to day workings of a bookstore. The sights, sounds and smells of working with books. As a bookaholic I really enjoyed this feature intertwined with the overlapping stories of Laura and Roach. Alternate chapters are told in the first person by each, and bit by bit, we find out how dark both of their secrets are.
There were moments when I felt an inkling of pity for Roach, but that didn’t last long. She’s likely to be someone you wouldn’t want to have a prolonged conversation with in the tearoom at work.
I was intrigued by the themes of obsession and moral compass. How far would you go to make a new friend? How much is too much? And the story handles grief beautifully, how difficult it is to handle and how much are you obliged to share with others, especially in the case of a public tragedy.
”There’s no resolution to grief, no happy ending.”
This is a cautious tale of being friendlier to your co-workers. Especially those you don’t particularly like.
A really terrific début novel, which was a real page turner. Ms. Slater delved deep into what made each of her protagonists tick. And Bleep! What an utterly fantastic name for a pet mollusc. And very clever as the renowned psychological thriller and short story Writer Patricia Highsmith also had an (unhealthy) obsession with them. I read a bio of hers years ago, and snails featured liberally in it. So extra kudos for this homage!
I was taken completely by surprise with how much I enjoyed this and am so glad I stumbled upon it. And the open-ended ending is just as I like it.
”For the first time in years, our dark connection sparks. The sea air stirs the wind chimes, and the front door opens. As she steps into the hall, I take a deep breath and smell roses.”
October 1, 2023
4.0 Stars
This was such a fun, witty, smart thriller for fans of true crime. I loved all the references to serial killers and popular true crime books. The commentary on the true crime obsession was well balanced and on point. I would recommend this true crime junkie who has to make peace with our complicated fascination with this genre.
This was such a fun, witty, smart thriller for fans of true crime. I loved all the references to serial killers and popular true crime books. The commentary on the true crime obsession was well balanced and on point. I would recommend this true crime junkie who has to make peace with our complicated fascination with this genre.
December 30, 2023
Market research read. If anyone knows any novels published 2019 forward about women plotting to commit or caught up in crime, let me know.
Death of a Bookseller is the debut novel by Alice Slater. Published in 2023, it's a first-person account of a young bookstore clerk and true crime fan in the northeast London neighborhood of Walthamstow. Given to morbid self-intentions, she becomes obsessed with a radiant co-worker, who narrates her segments of the story as well. I can't recall which page Slater made me abandon my distaste for first-person narration or switching points of view and enjoy what she was cooking, but she does it quickly with precise and often witty writing, a fascinating milieu, and a suspenseful story that kept me turning the pages.
Brogan Roach works at her local branch of Spines, a bookstore chain whose arrival in the 1990s forced two local booksellers to shutter and in 2019, is now on its last legs. Roach lives in a flat above the bar her mother operates. She keeps a giant African land snail named Bleep as a pet and consumes true crime books, electing herself curator of that section at Spines. She dismisses the "Pumpkin Spice Girls" who flock to true crime like any new trend. A loner who surrounds herself with books and morbid explorations of death, Roach considers herself above the "normies."
Laura Bunting appears to Roach like a vision, a pretty and confident and well-liked bookseller who transfers to her branch with a new manager and the male bookseller Laura is fixated on. Her mother the victim of a serial murderer, Laura writes poetry that champions the lives of victims. Without sharing her macabre family history, Laura takes offense to Roach's gothic obsession with death. The harder her new co-worker tries to win her approval, the more Laura ignores her. Bad idea.
I have a sweet spot for any story about work and workplace dynamics. Slater doesn't stop there, identifying a favorite milieu of writers and readers alike--the bookstore--and on its most immediate level, Death of a Bookseller is a great book about books. Slater writes what I've thought about: management, perky co-workers, popular books or trending topics, and finally customers, who interfere with what otherwise would be a fun job. Her writing is sharp, substantive and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.
I've always fancied myself a death row bride. I'd rock up in black lace, a leather jacket, sunglasses. I liked the idea of writing to a serial killer in jail, striking up a friendship, finding out what made them tick. It was difficult to find cool serial killers to write to in the UK, though. They lacked the glamour of the Californian devils of the 1970s, the wry smiles and sarcastic waves to the press, the rock-star swagger, the achingly cool indifference to it all. There were loads of them in the '70s. It was like the Satanic American dream: girls with bare shoulders hitchhiked and climbed happily into the cars of strangers, housewives left their back doors unlocked, slept with their windows wide open and welcoming. But that was then. The golden age of serial killing was over, and the chances of me finding one to marry were slim.
The toxic male-female friendship in the novel is really well written. Laura's co-worker Eli enjoys the attention Laura bestows him--and his girlfriend perhaps doesn't--while Laura wastes her youth on a man who's unavailable. Neither possess the maturity to shake hands and retire to their separate corners as colleagues. Slater also associates alcohol consumption and blackout drunks among people in their twenties struggling with adulthood, depression and palpable fear of going home to an empty flat and vacant lives.
Psychologically, Slater takes all the best lessons from Patricia Highsmith. Her narrators are not very good people, but the more of their stories they told, the more empathy I felt for them. Finally, I understood them, and took a rooting interest in them escaping prison or death despite the best efforts of the other characters in the story to do them in. I finished the novel in four days, a good land speed for me, and anticipated getting back to it every day. This is the easiest five stars I've given a novel in months and recommend it highly.
The Christmas and New Year's Eve setting the novel stalks toward was an accident and made the book that more enjoyable to me, particularly as Roach shares her thoughts on the consensus best book of the year (it's not Yellowface).
The book of the year was Flower Crowns of the Arctic, like I give a shit. Another mass-market paperback with a pseudo-smart title for book clubs full of Lauras to fawn over. It was about some girl's dead mother, and climate change. Laura had written a neat little recommendation card for it: a sweeping novel about the way things can feel broken beyond repair, how things can feel ruined, and how we must heal before we can move on. Laura xox. Sentimental bullshit.
Death of a Bookseller is the debut novel by Alice Slater. Published in 2023, it's a first-person account of a young bookstore clerk and true crime fan in the northeast London neighborhood of Walthamstow. Given to morbid self-intentions, she becomes obsessed with a radiant co-worker, who narrates her segments of the story as well. I can't recall which page Slater made me abandon my distaste for first-person narration or switching points of view and enjoy what she was cooking, but she does it quickly with precise and often witty writing, a fascinating milieu, and a suspenseful story that kept me turning the pages.
Brogan Roach works at her local branch of Spines, a bookstore chain whose arrival in the 1990s forced two local booksellers to shutter and in 2019, is now on its last legs. Roach lives in a flat above the bar her mother operates. She keeps a giant African land snail named Bleep as a pet and consumes true crime books, electing herself curator of that section at Spines. She dismisses the "Pumpkin Spice Girls" who flock to true crime like any new trend. A loner who surrounds herself with books and morbid explorations of death, Roach considers herself above the "normies."
Laura Bunting appears to Roach like a vision, a pretty and confident and well-liked bookseller who transfers to her branch with a new manager and the male bookseller Laura is fixated on. Her mother the victim of a serial murderer, Laura writes poetry that champions the lives of victims. Without sharing her macabre family history, Laura takes offense to Roach's gothic obsession with death. The harder her new co-worker tries to win her approval, the more Laura ignores her. Bad idea.
I have a sweet spot for any story about work and workplace dynamics. Slater doesn't stop there, identifying a favorite milieu of writers and readers alike--the bookstore--and on its most immediate level, Death of a Bookseller is a great book about books. Slater writes what I've thought about: management, perky co-workers, popular books or trending topics, and finally customers, who interfere with what otherwise would be a fun job. Her writing is sharp, substantive and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.
I've always fancied myself a death row bride. I'd rock up in black lace, a leather jacket, sunglasses. I liked the idea of writing to a serial killer in jail, striking up a friendship, finding out what made them tick. It was difficult to find cool serial killers to write to in the UK, though. They lacked the glamour of the Californian devils of the 1970s, the wry smiles and sarcastic waves to the press, the rock-star swagger, the achingly cool indifference to it all. There were loads of them in the '70s. It was like the Satanic American dream: girls with bare shoulders hitchhiked and climbed happily into the cars of strangers, housewives left their back doors unlocked, slept with their windows wide open and welcoming. But that was then. The golden age of serial killing was over, and the chances of me finding one to marry were slim.
The toxic male-female friendship in the novel is really well written. Laura's co-worker Eli enjoys the attention Laura bestows him--and his girlfriend perhaps doesn't--while Laura wastes her youth on a man who's unavailable. Neither possess the maturity to shake hands and retire to their separate corners as colleagues. Slater also associates alcohol consumption and blackout drunks among people in their twenties struggling with adulthood, depression and palpable fear of going home to an empty flat and vacant lives.
Psychologically, Slater takes all the best lessons from Patricia Highsmith. Her narrators are not very good people, but the more of their stories they told, the more empathy I felt for them. Finally, I understood them, and took a rooting interest in them escaping prison or death despite the best efforts of the other characters in the story to do them in. I finished the novel in four days, a good land speed for me, and anticipated getting back to it every day. This is the easiest five stars I've given a novel in months and recommend it highly.
The Christmas and New Year's Eve setting the novel stalks toward was an accident and made the book that more enjoyable to me, particularly as Roach shares her thoughts on the consensus best book of the year (it's not Yellowface).
The book of the year was Flower Crowns of the Arctic, like I give a shit. Another mass-market paperback with a pseudo-smart title for book clubs full of Lauras to fawn over. It was about some girl's dead mother, and climate change. Laura had written a neat little recommendation card for it: a sweeping novel about the way things can feel broken beyond repair, how things can feel ruined, and how we must heal before we can move on. Laura xox. Sentimental bullshit.
June 16, 2023
I've never read a book that's made me feel skin-crawlingly gross yet fascinated. I couldn't put this book down, it captivated me from the off with its car-crash characters, bookshop setting and obsessive plot.
We're seeing this plot told through Laura and Roach's narratives, two very different characters who go through quite the journey together. Laura initially seems to have it all together with her matching beret and shoes, her organised book collection and her cheery attitude. Whereas Roach is bitter and judgy, she exudes an air of arrogance like she's better than everyone else purely because she is not like them - except really she's exactly like them, she just can't see it. The two characters start off contrasting each other perfectly, and gradually their relationship becomes more knotted and complicated.
If you enjoy people-watching novels, this will definitely be for you, because it delves deeply into the psyche of these two leads. The way the author observed and wrote about each of these characters made them feel so real, especially Roach. Roach felt truly disgusting to me, she leapt off the page with her lack of self-hygiene and dismissive personality. The smells Slater describes in this book continue to add to the contract between Laura and Roach and make Roach seem so unappealing. And I now never want to be near a can of Dark Fruits again.
Slater gave the reader a real power here in diving deep into each character's thought process and showing how they felt about each other. This was such a clever writing style because it alienated us further from Roach and began to do the same for Laura as we saw her character shift and change until she and Roach didn't feel so different after all. I felt physically uncomfortable at times reading from Roach's perspective whereas I just gradually started to dislike Laura.
This is a novel about the unravelling of these two characters, Roach's obsession with Laura, her lack of understanding of social norms and her disdain for those around her. I was fascinated and I don't think my review is doing this book justice because I can't seem to put into words all the thoughts I had along the way whilst reading this. Great book, especially for any former booksellers too, it took me right back to my Waterstones days!
We're seeing this plot told through Laura and Roach's narratives, two very different characters who go through quite the journey together. Laura initially seems to have it all together with her matching beret and shoes, her organised book collection and her cheery attitude. Whereas Roach is bitter and judgy, she exudes an air of arrogance like she's better than everyone else purely because she is not like them - except really she's exactly like them, she just can't see it. The two characters start off contrasting each other perfectly, and gradually their relationship becomes more knotted and complicated.
If you enjoy people-watching novels, this will definitely be for you, because it delves deeply into the psyche of these two leads. The way the author observed and wrote about each of these characters made them feel so real, especially Roach. Roach felt truly disgusting to me, she leapt off the page with her lack of self-hygiene and dismissive personality. The smells Slater describes in this book continue to add to the contract between Laura and Roach and make Roach seem so unappealing. And I now never want to be near a can of Dark Fruits again.
Slater gave the reader a real power here in diving deep into each character's thought process and showing how they felt about each other. This was such a clever writing style because it alienated us further from Roach and began to do the same for Laura as we saw her character shift and change until she and Roach didn't feel so different after all. I felt physically uncomfortable at times reading from Roach's perspective whereas I just gradually started to dislike Laura.
This is a novel about the unravelling of these two characters, Roach's obsession with Laura, her lack of understanding of social norms and her disdain for those around her. I was fascinated and I don't think my review is doing this book justice because I can't seem to put into words all the thoughts I had along the way whilst reading this. Great book, especially for any former booksellers too, it took me right back to my Waterstones days!
April 9, 2023
A somewhat slow but irresistible story about two women who represent the black and white (or the good and bad maybe?) of people.
Bogdan/Brodie Roach, who grew up in a pub where her mother has more interest in the punters than in her daughter, is clingy, moody, dark and generally unhappy. She starts working as a bookseller when she’s only sixteen and there is no other path, let alone a whole world, for her. She’s completely focussed on true-crime, especially on serial killers.
Laura Bunting, she with the festive family name, is the woman who is very dedicated to her work, only wears colour-coordinated clothing and doesn’t realize she has more in common with Roach than she thinks. Laura’s mother was murdered by a serial killer, a fact that she mostly wants to keep a secret. But keeping secrets for Roach is difficult, because Roach is always snooping.
We read their story from both POV’s, and the similarity between their stories becomes gradually known. Another similarity is the fact that they both drink. A lot. An awful lot. Why in heavens’ name would you spend almost every evening after work getting drunk with your colleagues? Every character in this story – because there are more people working in Spines, the store where the story is set – is on his/her way to become a full fledged alcoholic. If you cannot call them that already.
Everything that happens in this story is set off by booze, booze and more booze. It seems none of the people who work in Spines is having one original thought without getting very drunk first. Which is a pity because there is a lot going on here. We get to know Roach and Laura pretty well and although they are both not very nice persons, you cannot help but feel for them sometimes.
I think I’m not the only reviewer here who loves bookstores but it’s not always fun working in one. It’s not so much about the books, it’s about selling books and making a profit. I liked the parts where Laura and her colleagues moan about the customers and all the hard work that has to be done to keep the store running. Although I’ve never heard of a bookstore where you have to work during the night to get it stocked. Certainly not where I come from.
It's a creepy story in places and the end is fitting. I loved the writing but sometimes I got a bit nauseous from reading about the huge amounts of alcohol that’s consumed.
Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this review copy.
Bogdan/Brodie Roach, who grew up in a pub where her mother has more interest in the punters than in her daughter, is clingy, moody, dark and generally unhappy. She starts working as a bookseller when she’s only sixteen and there is no other path, let alone a whole world, for her. She’s completely focussed on true-crime, especially on serial killers.
Laura Bunting, she with the festive family name, is the woman who is very dedicated to her work, only wears colour-coordinated clothing and doesn’t realize she has more in common with Roach than she thinks. Laura’s mother was murdered by a serial killer, a fact that she mostly wants to keep a secret. But keeping secrets for Roach is difficult, because Roach is always snooping.
We read their story from both POV’s, and the similarity between their stories becomes gradually known. Another similarity is the fact that they both drink. A lot. An awful lot. Why in heavens’ name would you spend almost every evening after work getting drunk with your colleagues? Every character in this story – because there are more people working in Spines, the store where the story is set – is on his/her way to become a full fledged alcoholic. If you cannot call them that already.
Everything that happens in this story is set off by booze, booze and more booze. It seems none of the people who work in Spines is having one original thought without getting very drunk first. Which is a pity because there is a lot going on here. We get to know Roach and Laura pretty well and although they are both not very nice persons, you cannot help but feel for them sometimes.
I think I’m not the only reviewer here who loves bookstores but it’s not always fun working in one. It’s not so much about the books, it’s about selling books and making a profit. I liked the parts where Laura and her colleagues moan about the customers and all the hard work that has to be done to keep the store running. Although I’ve never heard of a bookstore where you have to work during the night to get it stocked. Certainly not where I come from.
It's a creepy story in places and the end is fitting. I loved the writing but sometimes I got a bit nauseous from reading about the huge amounts of alcohol that’s consumed.
Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this review copy.
September 24, 2023
A darkly funny story about a serial killer obsessed bookseller who has a disturbing infatuation with a coworker. Told from the POV’s of both women, the performance on the audiobook is one of my favorites of all time. Your sense of humor will dictate how much you enjoy this book. I found it hysterically funny, but you must have a dark and sarcastic kind of humor or you’ll be clutching your pearls like a “normie.” Reading the negative reviews for this brilliant novel is nearly as entertaining as the novel itself!
Roach thinks she and Laura are going to be great friends when Laura is brought in to help the store to turn a profit. Roach’s interest in true crime is based in entertainment and voyeurism. Laura has a tragic personal reason for finding the crime obsessed offensive. When Laura is cold and unfriendly to her, Roach becomes more and more obsessed and stalkerish. It’s a great slow burn character driven psychological thriller that showcases the obsession with podcasts and all things murder. The narration on the audiobook is perfection. I want a sequel!!! Death of a Bookseller was an Aardvark selection and quickly sold out.
“I wonder if serial killers think about me as much as I think about them.” I didn’t realize the actual shirt exists. Go to Etsy. It does! 😂
Pub date: April 25, 2023
Pages: 368
Roach thinks she and Laura are going to be great friends when Laura is brought in to help the store to turn a profit. Roach’s interest in true crime is based in entertainment and voyeurism. Laura has a tragic personal reason for finding the crime obsessed offensive. When Laura is cold and unfriendly to her, Roach becomes more and more obsessed and stalkerish. It’s a great slow burn character driven psychological thriller that showcases the obsession with podcasts and all things murder. The narration on the audiobook is perfection. I want a sequel!!! Death of a Bookseller was an Aardvark selection and quickly sold out.
“I wonder if serial killers think about me as much as I think about them.” I didn’t realize the actual shirt exists. Go to Etsy. It does! 😂
Pub date: April 25, 2023
Pages: 368
March 4, 2025
Dark psychological thrillers are my guilty pleasure, and this one certainly hit the mark 🤩
Conclusion: Absolutely brilliant!
A bookshop. An obsessive and deadly relationship. A true crime story. And, an incredible debut thriller.
Death of a Bookseller is thrilling and fast-paced. It is written from the POV of two women; both with a connection to serial killers; one with a morbid obsession; one with a murdered mother.
This was a highly entertaining and engaging read from start to finish. Alice Slater held my attention throughout the whole book and finished with an epic epilogue!
Highly recommend for anyone looking for a fun and compelling thriller, with many dark and twisted moments. I personally loved it even more so because it was set in a bookshop. Such fun 🤩
🌟🌟🌟🌟
Conclusion: Absolutely brilliant!
A bookshop. An obsessive and deadly relationship. A true crime story. And, an incredible debut thriller.
Death of a Bookseller is thrilling and fast-paced. It is written from the POV of two women; both with a connection to serial killers; one with a morbid obsession; one with a murdered mother.
This was a highly entertaining and engaging read from start to finish. Alice Slater held my attention throughout the whole book and finished with an epic epilogue!
Highly recommend for anyone looking for a fun and compelling thriller, with many dark and twisted moments. I personally loved it even more so because it was set in a bookshop. Such fun 🤩
🌟🌟🌟🌟
August 12, 2024
This book would not have made it onto my radar without Joe’s review, who sold it to me like a treat. I’m not much a mystery and thriller person, but I admit that the setting, as a former bookseller myself, was intriguing. I would have assumed from the cover art that this would be one of those cozy mysteries but hang on to your hats if you decide to crack this one open; there is no coziness to be found in those pages!
Roach has been working at a bookstore called Spines her entire adult life. When she’s not working, she’s listening to a true crime podcast or documentary, sneering at the ‘normies’ and looking after her giant African snail pet. When the charming and bubbly Laura joins the bookstore staff, Roach isn’t happy at first, to have to share her working space with a PSL drinking girl, until she finds out that they have some common interests. But Laura doesn’t really want to be friends with Roach, who goes into stalker mode and finds out that Laura has a rather tragic family history…
I have to admit upfront that I know very little about true crime; I don’t have much interest in reading books about it, I watched "Dahmer" more because I generally enjoy Ryan Murphy’s style than out of active interest in the genre – but that said, I can absolutely see how easy it is to become obsessed with that sort of thing. It’s a weird form of escapism, sure, but we are all trying to entertain ourselves and add spice to our often less-than-exciting work weeks. Some people do true crimes, others do smut, whatever gets you through the day, I say. But I also understand how voyeuristic and exploitative it can get when a very personal part of your story comes under intense attention from strangers. My favorite thing about this book is the structure, alternating chapters between Roach’s and Laura’s POVs, which explore this divide. For Roach, Laura’s history is something to bond over, but for Laura, it’s active trauma she is trying to find ways to heal from, and that’s impossible to do with someone fetichizing said trauma hovering over you.
And let’s face it, Roach is a creepy and unreliable narrator that actually reminded me of Joe Goldberg from "You"; in fact, I bet Roach would love to hang out with Joe and would have sent him fanmail. I assumed at first that I would find her somewhat sympathetic: my interests have been called morbid, I had purple hair for years and so-called normal people weird me out, too. But it didn’t take long before I was fully on Laura’s side – even when I wanted to shake some sense into her. One of the great strengths of this book is how well those two contrasting characters are built: they are both messy and damaged, and neither of them is dealing with their problems in truly healthy ways. While it’s very obvious which one is the bad guy, the good guy is still often an unlikable mess, and even the bad guy gets moments where I felt like she needed a hug.
I rated it 4 stars because there were a few details that I felt could have been polished a bit more, but this is an impressive debut that becomes very hard to put down very fast.
Thank you for putting this on my radar Joe: it caught me completely off guard and I had a great time with it!
Roach has been working at a bookstore called Spines her entire adult life. When she’s not working, she’s listening to a true crime podcast or documentary, sneering at the ‘normies’ and looking after her giant African snail pet. When the charming and bubbly Laura joins the bookstore staff, Roach isn’t happy at first, to have to share her working space with a PSL drinking girl, until she finds out that they have some common interests. But Laura doesn’t really want to be friends with Roach, who goes into stalker mode and finds out that Laura has a rather tragic family history…
I have to admit upfront that I know very little about true crime; I don’t have much interest in reading books about it, I watched "Dahmer" more because I generally enjoy Ryan Murphy’s style than out of active interest in the genre – but that said, I can absolutely see how easy it is to become obsessed with that sort of thing. It’s a weird form of escapism, sure, but we are all trying to entertain ourselves and add spice to our often less-than-exciting work weeks. Some people do true crimes, others do smut, whatever gets you through the day, I say. But I also understand how voyeuristic and exploitative it can get when a very personal part of your story comes under intense attention from strangers. My favorite thing about this book is the structure, alternating chapters between Roach’s and Laura’s POVs, which explore this divide. For Roach, Laura’s history is something to bond over, but for Laura, it’s active trauma she is trying to find ways to heal from, and that’s impossible to do with someone fetichizing said trauma hovering over you.
And let’s face it, Roach is a creepy and unreliable narrator that actually reminded me of Joe Goldberg from "You"; in fact, I bet Roach would love to hang out with Joe and would have sent him fanmail. I assumed at first that I would find her somewhat sympathetic: my interests have been called morbid, I had purple hair for years and so-called normal people weird me out, too. But it didn’t take long before I was fully on Laura’s side – even when I wanted to shake some sense into her. One of the great strengths of this book is how well those two contrasting characters are built: they are both messy and damaged, and neither of them is dealing with their problems in truly healthy ways. While it’s very obvious which one is the bad guy, the good guy is still often an unlikable mess, and even the bad guy gets moments where I felt like she needed a hug.
I rated it 4 stars because there were a few details that I felt could have been polished a bit more, but this is an impressive debut that becomes very hard to put down very fast.
Thank you for putting this on my radar Joe: it caught me completely off guard and I had a great time with it!
Read
June 5, 2023This is the hyped book of the summer, plus it's a 'thriller about horrible people' which I was binging, so I grabbed it, but it did not work for me. Switches between viewpoints of Roach, a genuinely horrible creation (sticky stalky true crime obsessive into serial killers) and Laura, a mildly tiresome middle-class poetry-writing type whose mother was murdered by a serial killer.
Partly I just didn't enjoy being in Roach's head. She's a great creation in the spirit of The Wasp Factory, The Magus etc--a really unpleasant person made up of whining, unjustified smugness, and self justification--but I think I prefer looking at horrible people rather than inhabiting them, at least over long stretches. And also, by 30% we hadn't really got anywhere in plot terms: Roach is becoming more stalky and Laura doesn't like her, repeat. I DNFd because I just didn't want to spend time in this world without a propulsive plot. /shrugs./ YMMV and probably will.
If you like being plunged into horrible people's heads, you'll love it. I don't know if true crime
aficionados will lap this up or be highly offended by the dissection of the moral issues involved; either would be funny.
Partly I just didn't enjoy being in Roach's head. She's a great creation in the spirit of The Wasp Factory, The Magus etc--a really unpleasant person made up of whining, unjustified smugness, and self justification--but I think I prefer looking at horrible people rather than inhabiting them, at least over long stretches. And also, by 30% we hadn't really got anywhere in plot terms: Roach is becoming more stalky and Laura doesn't like her, repeat. I DNFd because I just didn't want to spend time in this world without a propulsive plot. /shrugs./ YMMV and probably will.
If you like being plunged into horrible people's heads, you'll love it. I don't know if true crime
aficionados will lap this up or be highly offended by the dissection of the moral issues involved; either would be funny.
August 10, 2023
A dark story with interesting themes of past trauma, obsession and not fitting in. Also questions raised about the ethics of true crime as entertainment, something I've thought about a fair bit myself, I'm both intrigued and repelled by it. The characters were all unlikeable but I found the story compelling, I read it with a constant sense of dread and unease. A decent debut novel, I'm keen to see what the author does next, 4 stars.
January 25, 2025
This book made me feel nothing except anxiety.
May 6, 2023
Thank you Hodder and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was well written and I enjoyed reading it, but I wouldn’t call it a thriller, as the title suggests. Being a bookseller myself, I liked reading about the bookselling business and it was absolutely recognisable. The work, the colleagues, the customers, the extremely busy period just before Christmas… I don’t know if it’s really true that British booksellers work all nighters just to be able to shelve all the incoming books; I’m just glad that that’s not the case here in the Netherlands!
I don’t read many crime novels, but when I do I want them to be thrilling and exciting, and even though there’s some pretty heavy stalking and obsession going on, I’m afraid to say it didn’t make me sit at the edge of my chair. And spoiler alert:
nobody gets killed.
This was well written and I enjoyed reading it, but I wouldn’t call it a thriller, as the title suggests. Being a bookseller myself, I liked reading about the bookselling business and it was absolutely recognisable. The work, the colleagues, the customers, the extremely busy period just before Christmas… I don’t know if it’s really true that British booksellers work all nighters just to be able to shelve all the incoming books; I’m just glad that that’s not the case here in the Netherlands!
I don’t read many crime novels, but when I do I want them to be thrilling and exciting, and even though there’s some pretty heavy stalking and obsession going on, I’m afraid to say it didn’t make me sit at the edge of my chair. And spoiler alert:
nobody gets killed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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