I've seen a lot of people talking about this book lately so I decided that it was time that I read it for myself and it certainly didn't disappoint . The prologue was gruesome and I was hooked!
Kerri, Beatrice and Mike all share a flat but despite this they are mostly like the proverbial ships that pass in the night. Each one of them is focusing on bettering themselves in their chosen careers, Kerri is a journalist, Beatrice an author and Mike a frustrated street mime artist, but each one of them is struggling with their own personal issues.
When a serial killer dubbed the Paper Doll Killer starts to gain notoriety with their calling card of painting their victims faces with blood and leaving a paper doll at the scene, all three flatmates are horrified to discover that they could all have potential links to this deranged murderer but what is it that's connecting the victims?
Told in chapters alternating between the three flatmates and cleverly interspersed with chapters from the killers perspective, Paper Dolls is a book that pulls no punches right from the outset, so if, unlike me, you're a sensitive reader, this might not be the book for you. Personally I love a big of gore in my books, no crime scene is ever pretty (not that I've experienced one first hand!) so I admire any author that isn't afraid to go down the graphic route.
Each character in the book has their flaws and I found myself swaying between love and hate with all three of them. The more I read, the more involved I got with them and their lives and the more intrigued I was by the killer. As the story ramped up towards the end, I was convinced that I knew exactly who the Paper Doll Killer was - only to then have all my reasoning's snatched away from me by the dramatic turn of events. I certainly didn't see THAT one coming!!
This is the first book that I've read by Emma Pullar - but I have read London's Crawling, a short story in Dark Minds, a collection of short stories from various well-known authors published for charity - and I'll definitely be watching out for her future books. If you like to venture into the dark side of crime then Paper Dolls could be just the book for you!
With kind thanks to Wendy Clarke and The Fiction Cafe for my review copy.
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