- Format: Kindle Edition
- File Size: 1730 KB
- Print Length: 312 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1916051855
- Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
- Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B08BCTVKJB
Synopsis
Almost two years ago, Faith and Grace Tiddle arrived home from their Saturday morning dance class to find both of their parents face down in pools of blood
Five days later, the twins — only nine years old at the time — were arrested for the double homicide.
And now, twenty months on, the entire country awaits with bated breath as the jury are dismissed to deliberate their verdict on a case that has become a national obsession.
But if Lead Detective Denis Quayle — the man who knows the case better than anybody else — isn’t fully convinced of the twins’ guilt…
Can a twelve-person jury be?
Review
The Curious Case of Faith and Grace is a dark and creepy as the cover implies. Twins Grace and Faith arive howm from ther weekly dance class to find their parents murdered. As the investigation begins the police are divided as to whether the twins could have killed their parents at only nine years old, and why would they do it. Lead Detective Denis Quayle stands by his view that the twins are innocent, but is overruled and his last job as a Detective is to charge them for murder. The murder becomes a national sensation, and as the trial comes to an end, will they be found guilty or not guilty?
From the start of this book I was completely addicted to the story of Faith and Grace. I think the idea of children who kill is something we all find shocking, but at the same time fascinating bringing the age old debate of nature versus nurture to the fore. This book is split into three different narratives. The first is narrated by Alice, one of the jurors at the trial. As the trial comes to end the narrative follows the jurors as they deliberate over forty eight hours as to whether to give a guilty or not guilty verdict. The plot goes back to the day of the crime and the days following in the next narrative. Detective Quayle is the lead detective, but is part of a small rural police unit, and comes under pressure from the larger department to find the twins guilty. We are voyeurs of the investigagtion, the evidence available and the inadequecies of the infighting between departments. The final narrative is the backgroung of the twins and their parents, Clive and Dorothy, who were very religiuous and ran the local church. As these three narratives run side by side details are drip fed as the evidence seen by the jury is revealed to the reader. This left me feeling like I was part of the jury, weighing up the evidence, deciding if Faith and Grace could be the killers. I was so immersed in this book that I felt the anticipation building, my stomach had butterflies and in the end I didn’t want to find out the ruling, I felt like covering my eyes.
David B Lyons creates memorable and intriguing characters, especially in the twins. Being brought up by religious fanatics, they are more concerned with heaven and hell than which tv programme to watch; not a healthy thought as nine year olds. They are an enigma in that they are very close, spend a lot of time alone and really only talking to each other, they are very caught up in their own world. Detective Quayle was the only one to really sympathise with them, and takes them under his wing and never considers them as the killers. He was a character I warmed to, not only in his caring attitude towards the twins but also because of the pressure he was under from the larger police force and the fact that his wife was dealing with cancer. He had a lot on his plate, but continued to fight for what he believed in.
The jury are also a mixed bunch, and being a voyeur on their deliberations was fascinating. As I said previuously I found myself weighing up the arguments with them, taking it all into account but not knowing which way the versict would swing. David B Lyons cleverly adds a twist into this as narrator Alice is being blackmailed by an unknown female. There is a sex tape she doesn’t want her family to see and all she has to do either persuade the her fellow jurors to vote not guilty, or get a hung jury. The tension in the deliberation is almost palpable as she puts herslf on the line witout giving her self away.
The Curious Case of Faith and Grace really packs a punch in it’s three hundered pages. . Dark and chillng in parts, this is an exhillerating read with unrelenting tension making it a hard book to put down. You can’t help but be fascinated by this case, if horrified at the same time and this is what makes it such a fantastic read, and a first class crime thriller.
I would like to thank Emma Welton at Damppebbles Blog Tours for inviting me to read this book in return for my hones review.
