“This real-life crime novel is sure to thrill you, loved by our reviewer.”

 

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

I have a friend with a remarkable superpower. She has a knack for knowing which books I will love to read – despite them being nothing like my usual reading matter. She hands them to me almost negligently saying “you’ll enjoy this” – and she’s right every time. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is one such book.

The novel has a powerful and atmospheric feel, and is populated with some seriously bizarre, quirky, and belligerent characters which make it compulsive reading. [It also makes you want to visit Savannah – but that’s by the by].

The received wisdom is that it is based on real events which happened in the 80’s. However, whilst it does describe and tell about the norm, it has a slightly surreal feel to it as well.

The best approximation I can think of is the marvellous film “A Matter of Life and Death” with David Niven; where the ordinary and everyday nestle next to the scenes of the not so ordinary (although there’s nothing supernatural about the book). It’s almost like a well-written modern anthropological study of a complex and eccentric group of people – but that doesn’t really describe it either!

Given what I’ve said above, you might think this would be hard work – it isn’t. The writing is very accessible and moves along at a decent clip making it an easy read. This is another book that I will happily re-read time and again – despite the fact it’s not fantasy – which is high praise from me.

 

Reviewed by:

Debbie McCarthy

Added 20th May 2015

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Debbie McCarthy

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