Mystifying, intricate, and tight!

True Crime Story is an edgy, intense mystery that introduces us to the tenacious writer Evelyn Mitchell as she endeavours to solve the cold case of missing nineteen-year-old Manchester University student, Zoe Nolan, by interviewing her old friends, roommates, and family and with the occasional support of fellow writer Joseph Knox, seven years after she vanished one night without a trace.

The writing style is calculated and unconventional. The characters are consumed, impressionable, impulsive, and flawed. And the plot, using a past/present, back-and-forth style and told from multiple POVs, builds nicely to create just the right amount of tension and suspense, as it unravels all the manipulative personalities, duplicitous actions, questionable motivations, and complex relationships within it.

So I’m not such whether to be incredibly impressed with Knox for his ability to create and compose this story, and of course for his good taste in lead characters’ names, or totally unnerved that he actually thought this whole thing up and was able to keep it all straight. That takes some serious skill. True Crime Story is creative, unique, mind-blowing, and without a doubt, a brilliantly crafted story that I knew from the very first page was fiction but still went to Google at least three times searching for more information on the victim of this crime. Honestly, this book needs to be read to be truly appreciated, and I challenge you to read it and not search the internet at least once for the unfortunate “Zoe Nolan.”