Katie Reviews~ The list of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey

The list of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey is set in Yorkshire in 1979 during the Yorkshire Rippers reign of terror. The novel follows Miv a schoolgirl who's family are talking of moving away from Yorkshire due to the murders. In the hopes of preventing the move Miv along with her best friend Sharon start investigating the murders by creating this list of suspicious things which will help them find the Ripper and stop more deaths.

Jennie Godfrey sets the scene of Yorkshire in 1979 by bring the tensions of the workers strike, the unrest of the community and the fear of the Ripper striking innocent victims into the conversations of the characters. Which is highlighted through the innocent eyes of Miv and Sharon as they are progressively learning what these events mean and that the world isn't such a nice easy place. 

 As Miv and Sharon develop their list of suspicious things they slowly start revealing the secrets of the community and start to learn that behind closed doors every family has secrets. They begin to realise maybe meddling into people's lives can bring more harm than good even if they are meddling with the best of intentions.

Although the other side of Miv and Sharon's investigation leads them to create friendships with other characters and develop understanding of cultures and communities.

This book took me pleasantly by surprise, every time I sat down and thought I'd read for ten minutes I'd look up from the book and realise I'd been reading for a lot longer than that. I think this is down to the ease in which this book reads, and the atmosphere that is created of what living in Yorkshire would have been like in 1979 as well as the level of suspicion everyone had for their neighbours at the time.

This book pays tribute to the real victims of the Yorkshire Ripper as well as emphasising the outrage of the community at the time for how long it took to catch the Ripper and the outrage around the derogatory terms used to describe the victims. 

A must read for those who enjoy crime novels but also for those who don't want a violent bloody read but an easy read.

Through the eyes of the innocent this novel creates an understanding of how crimes can effect a community.