I always find it curious that murder mysteries are amongst the most popular genre. Yet there’s something undeniably gripping about following a set of clues alongside the detective; it’s especially thrilling when you leapfrog over the detective and deduce the identity of the killer before them. But it’s more than simply our interest in a puzzle. Murder mysteries often delve into the mind of the killers and offer insight into the question of what warped logic or perverse incentive can push someone to kill. I think it’s the combination of those two elements that make murder mysteries particularly enticing. Sticks and Stones by Katherine Firkin provides both of those key aspects, making it an absolutely great read.
The story switches between multiple perspectives of people whose paths in some way are all affected by a serial killer who seems to be targeting women in Melbourne’s inner north-western suburbs. If there is a central character, it is Detective Emmet Corban who is leading the investigation into the murders. While at times the sizeable cast of characters did make it difficult to keep track of who everybody was, it was an interesting way to tell the story. For one, the intersecting points of the various characters’ narratives was well portrayed (Melbourne, despite having a sizeable population and being geographically sprawling, is in many ways quite a small city, and this seemed to lean into it), and the way all of the narrative threads fed into the central story – even if it was tangentially – served to constantly increase the tension and mystery.
Firkin demonstrates a clever aptitude for weaving red herrings through the storyline. Thus, while one part of your brain is calmly listing why it’s impossible that so-and-so can be the killer, the other part is screaming that it has to be. Moreover, the multiple perspectives meant that it felt as though all of the information was put in front of me, more or less from the book’s beginning. Much in the way that a serial killer often toys with police in fiction, it felt as though the book was giving enough information that I should have been able to discern the identity of the killer, yet at every turn felt like I was foolish for being unable to see what seemed to be right before my eyes
Interspersed throughout the present-day narrative are flashback scenes which show us the childhood of the killer (which itself feeds back constantly into the sense that one should be able to discern his identity). While also adding to the page-turning aspect to the story, this added an interesting dimension to one of the books’ running themes: the way children can slip through the cracks of a system due to a tragic combination of tired social workers, overburdened foster parents, and teachers who are worrying about a million other things. While the effect of his junkie mother’s death is sure to have left an indelible mark on him, the examination of how a tragic confluence of neglect in various forms, and plain bad luck, offers an interesting dimension to what would otherwise be a reasonably standard murder/thriller narrative. While it doesn’t excuse the behaviour, it speaks to an interesting thread which Firkin draws through the story: the reasons people have for doing bad things or making bad decisions. That added dimension of complexity and nuance made me really enjoy the book.
There were a few holes with the reveal and logistics of the killer that niggled at me as I subsequently ruminated on the book, and I would have liked them a little more neatly tied up. It feels an awful snub to an author to not elaborate on that, but I can’t go into any detail, for to do so would be to spoil the book. That being said, it wasn’t a huge diminishment. Firkin’s prose was sufficiently tight and the other elements of the story were sufficiently engrossing to have made it a really enjoyable read.
The added bonus was that of course, it was set in my home city, Melbourne. What was particularly impressive, though, is that it doesn’t pigeonhole the book so that it is only accessible to an Australian market. I kept turning the pages, unwilling to put this down, because I had to find out if what I’d pieced together from Firkin’s expertly laid-out clues was correct. In the end, I did correctly guess who the murder was, but I’m not sure I was too ahead of the curve there, at all. If you love a good murder mystery, then this is definitely the book for you.
Sticks and Stones is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of June 2nd 2020.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
‘He didn’t have to be normal, the boy realised. He just had to pretend.’ It’s winter in Melbourne and Detective Emmett Corban is starting to regret his promotion to head of the Missing Persons Unit, as the routine reports pile up on his desk. So when Natale Gibson goes missing, he’s convinced this is the big case he’s been waiting for – the woman’s husband and parents insist the devoted mother would never abandon her children, and her personal accounts remain untouched. But things aren’t all they seem. The close-knit Italian family is keeping secrets – none bigger than the one Natale has been hiding. Just as the net seems to be tightening, the investigation is turned on its head. The body of a woman is found . . . then another. What had seemed like a standard missing person’s case has turned into a frightening hunt for a serial killer, and time is running out. But to really understand these shocking crimes, Emmett and his team will need to delve back through decades of neglect – back to a squalid inner-city flat, where a young boy is left huddling over his mother’s body . . .
