#Titanuary #BookReview ‘The Devil You Know’ by Elisabeth de Mariaffi

About the book…

Rookie crime beat reporter Evie Jones is haunted by the unsolved murder of her best friend in 1982. The suspected killer was never apprehended. Now twenty-two, Evie is obsessively drawn to finding the murderer. She leans on childhood friend David Patton for help – but why does every trail seem to lead back to David’s father? As she gets closer to the truth, Evie becomes convinced that the killer is still at large – and that he’s coming back for her….

First published by Titan Books in 2015, ‘The Devil You Know” by Elisabeth Mastriaffi , is a startlingly original psychological thriller.

Part mystery-because at the heart of this, is what happened to Lianne-part character study, there is so much depth and subtext to this thriller. It is based on male on female violence, the proprietary nature of predators and the fear that girls, and women, live with . The ‘if it wasn’t her, it could have been me,’ nature of what happened to Lianne, not only helped create the grown up Evie, but also creates an atmosphere of ‘if obly she could solve this, she might be allowed to move on.’

The nature of childhood based trauma is never allowed to really stay in the background, and informs Evie’s position as an investigative reporter, which allows her the freedom to explore places which a common or garden person would not.

For example, access to police files, crime reports, forensics and so on…but in the search for the truth, has Evie ever stopped to realise just how badly affected she will be on exposing it?

It’s brutal, sparse and wonderfully told with an intimacy created between the protagonist and reader that I really enjoyed. Sometimes it takes me a while to warm up to a first person narrator, but the book has you dropped straight into Evie’s thought patterns-almost as if the reader serves as a mirror, or a diary for her to refect her thoughts and perceptions on.

Reality and the relative nature of the truth are played with until threadbare, the plot twists and turns keeping you jumping from cliff hanger chapter end to cliff hanger chapter end like stepping stones of suspense.

Deeply affecting as well as chillingly executed, I can thoroughly recommend this novel to thriller lovers,!

About the author…

Elisabeth de Mariaffi is the author of a new collection of short stories, ‘How To Get Along With Women’ (Invisible Publishing, 2012).

Her poetry and short fiction have been widely published in magazines across Canada, and she’s one of the wild minds behind the highly original Toronto Poetry Vendors, a small press that sells single poems by established Canadian poets through toonie vending machines.

Elisabeth works as Marketing Coordinator for Breakwater Books, and is currently based in St. John’s, where she lives with the poet George Murray and their combined brood of four children — making them CanLit’s answer to the Brady Brunch.

Twitter @TitanBooks @ElisabethdeM

Links-https://elisabethdemariaffi.com/

https://youtu.be/Ih_1HjHmPmw