Thanks to the Reading Agency and Pan Macmillan, Oundle Crime was offered copies of Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray to read and review. It’s not often we can all read and chat about the same book, so this was a treat. As you’d expect, our group was divided in our opinions, but this debut novel generated a really good discussion when we met.
Dissection of a Murder was published earlier this year and immediately shot to the top of the reading charts, being chosen as a Sunday Times Book of the Month and BBC Radio 2 Bookclub Pick.
Leila Reynolds is a young barrister, handling her first murder case. She’s been shocked to have been handed the brief because she’s so inexperienced, and the murder itself is high-profile, being the killing of a well-known judge. Normally she wouldn’t have been considered for the case, but the defendant, Jack, has insisted she must represent him. To make matters worse, he refuses to speak about what happened that night, and it is Leila’s husband, Julian, who will lead the prosecution.
The first bit of the book deals with the legal side of things, explaining to the reader how the courtroom will work, the roles of the barristers, solicitors and jury. It’s handled quite well, without coming across as boring or dry.
From there things move into the case itself. As we’ve said, the defendant won’t talk but you’re soon absorbed in the relationships between all the characters – the people in Chambers, Leila and Julian, Leila and Jack etc. as well as the impending trial. These ordinary chapters are interspersed with chapters featuring someone called Witness X, who was there when the murder happened. They talk about the crime and the case, raising questions. And there are plot twists galore, right up to the final page.
Our verdict
Dissection of a Murder was a book that felt full of promise, but actually we all thought it fell short. Some liked it better than others, but a few of our group never bothered to finish it There was a filmic quality about it, and we weren’t surprised to discover later that it is, in fact, already being made into Season 2 of Apple TV’s show ‘Presumed Innocent’.
For us, the problem with the novel boiled down to the simply absurd number of plot twists, which made it entirely too melodramatic. Every time you thought you were settling down into a complicated, intriguing courtroom drama there would be another ridiculous twist to take things off course. In places it was almost laughable.
Most of the characters in this book are unlikeable, but having said that, we actually quite liked Leila, even though she was such an unlikely protagonist. In the first half of the novel she came across as a decent woman, but goodness she had feet of clay! Nonetheless, Jo Murray somehow managed to put her readers in Leila’s shoes, so despite everything we felt we knew her. We found it difficult to figure out Witness X. The anonymous narrator isn’t a plot device we particularly enjoy, and by the closing chapters even those of our group who do were losing patience.
The tension of this novel is driven by the characters and their relationships with each other, not the jeopardy of the court case, so the courtroom scenes feel pretty unsubstantial. That must have been a deliberate ploy by the author, but we would have liked them to have had a bit more grit – think of authors like Steve Cavanagh, Kia Abdullah or Scott Turow.
This novel does have one final, extraordinary twist. A couple of us had guessed what it would be before getting through the first third of the novel, but for those of us who reached the last page it was disappointing. Just a step too far.
If you’ve read this far you’re going to think we hated this book. Actually, we didn’t. All of us were just disappointed that it hadn’t lived up to our expectations. It’s written well enough and in places it’s quite exciting, but it’s overly confusing because the twists and turns of the plot come so thick and fast. Eventually we decided that Jo Murray must have written it with the prime objective of having the story serialised on television. And that’s fine and – good for her – she’s achieved her goal, but it made the story underwhelming to read in book format.
Unless Jo Murray decides to focus on screenwriting, we’ll keep an eye open for her next book, because we’re conscious this is a debut novel and think a good editor could sharpen her obvious talent. For Dissection of a Murder though, we only award 3-Stars.
Review by: Oundle Crime
What’s in a Star?
At Oundle Crime we work on the basis that 3 Stars is “Not good or bad, but an average story and characters. You enjoyed reading it, but might not remember it after a month.”
Oundle Crime thanks the Reading Agency and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read Dissection of a Murder. We are voluntarily giving an honest review.
If you’d like to meet other crime fiction fans and chat about the books and authors you enjoy, why not come along to an Oundle Crime meeting? It’s relaxed and friendly, and anyone can drop in. Email join@friendsofoundlelibrary.org.uk and we’ll send you the details.