Life’s a lot like a well made sandwich. The two ends are kinda boring but what truly matters is all the fancy stuff in the middle.
Eleanor Parker lives in the quiet town of Westby with her mother and brother after her father died. It’s a town where nothing ever really happens. Except for when the post office got broken into last week. And when that girl, Sarah, got murdered last year and found in the river. In the lead up to the anniversary of her death, the town begins to mourn, and they are ever conscious of the fact that her killer has not been found.
Eleanor decided to disobey her mother and go to a party with her friends two nights before the anniversary of Sarah’s death. Barely able to remember her friends let alone the events of that night, Eleanor has no idea of what could have happened. But now she’s dead, so what should it matter? Waking up on the eve of Sarah’s death in the same river, barefoot and bruised with her lungs full of water, Eleanor is determined to work out how she died and who is responsible. But with so many suspects, how can she be sure that anyone is telling the truth?
This book was a rollercoaster to say the least—the premise of this story is that the main character has been murdered, but literally no one else knows, so she is required to investigate her own death. An interesting one which I have personally rarely seen.
It started off on a high—Eleanor wakes up in a river, unable to remember the night before, lungs full of water and hand marks on her neck. Supported by the fact that she can’t taste, smell, or feel pretty much anything, she’s unequivocally dead. But she’s sloshing her way home at 5.15am on a Sunday morning. Just let that sink in…
For the first 20% of the book, familial relationships are the focus of the narrative, causing the reader to question themselves. Was it the brother? What about the boyfriend? Was it the best friend or the mother? The reader is led to believe everyone to be suspect, artfully written so as no stone is left unread within the reader’s mind. Following this the story turns in a more self-discovery direction with Eleanor focusing upon unravelling the night before and why her boyfriend is being weird, leaving the whole murder-y business on the back-burner for a while.
Unfortunately, around the halfway point, the story temporarily derails, hinting to a possible supernatural cause for Eleanor’s existence. This honestly felt nonsensical within the overall scope of her tale. Thankfully, Wilkinson quickly gets the story back on track with the next act being pleasantly predictable (I think that’s a thing). Events took a turn, visible from a mile away in any good thriller, and quickly approached resolution. Assuming the final pages contained an ending, which seemed logical, out of nowhere came a massive twist, one which on a second read through would be blatantly obvious. Although in hindsight it was predictable, the ending did not feel forced and adequately tied up all loose ends.
Set in an English town, which is as boring as it is dreary, this novel utilises the public’s assumed knowledge of British society to its advantage. Trips between the main setting of the novel and other towns are mentioned but not described in detail—a type of storytelling one can only assume is meant to force the reader to either focus more on the characters than the setting or allow the consumer to fill in the blanks themselves.
The majority of characters have a distinct purpose within the narrative, allowing a greater connection to be made with each. The exception however, is the character of Rebecca and her lackeys—while mentioned frequently within Eleanor’s journey, moments of progression of the story relating to Rebecca could have been performed by literally any other character.
Overall, this was an enjoyable narrative. The character building within seems to be designed to help the audience to better relate to all characters, not just the book’s namesake. The path the story took, while long-winded in places, felt like it steered itself in generally the right direction—everyone has hiccups. All loose ends were resolved by the end and allow the reader to feel a sense of closer in relation to Parker’s plight. While not being ground-breaking, this novel should be rated as above average due to its imaginative nature and edgy premise.
The Death and Life of Eleanor Parker gets a 7/10 from me and it releases worldwide in e-book format on 26th July 2018 and it is available on Amazon and all good digital content retailers.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for providing an early reading copy of this in e-book format. Without their assistance, this review would not have been possible.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
A village with something to hide.
Seventeen-year-old Eleanor Parker wakes up cold and alone in the river that twists through her quiet village. She has no memory of how she got there. But she does know that another girl was drowned in the same river the summer before, held under the water by an unknown killer…
A community torn apart.
Eleanor is a normal, every day teenager. She argues with her mum, spends her days with her best friend, and is looking forward to a carefree summer of sunshine and music. Who would want to hurt her?
A shocking secret.
Determined to unlock the mystery of what really happened to her, Eleanor can’t escape the feeling that something awful links her to the previous summer’s murder. But will she find out the truth before it’s too late?
A gripping and extraordinary coming of age novel that will make you question everything and keep you guessing until the very end. Perfect for fans of We Were Liars, Looking for Alaska by John Green and hit TV show Riverdale.
