The Beautiful Dead is a solid psychological thriller
New novel by Belinda Bauer features taut plot, strong female protagonist
Art, obsession and the pull between one’s professional life and personal life make a searing background for British author Belinda Bauer’s new standalone psychological thriller.
Although The Beautiful Dead succumbs to some stereotypes of the serial-killer novel, Bauer’s strong character study and sense of place keep the taut plot churning with surprises.
Eve Singer, a crime reporter for London’s iWitness News, becomes a murderer’s obsession when she covers the stabbing of his latest victim. The killer’s gimmick is that he chooses to murder in the middle of a crowd of London’s Christmas shoppers. He poses these victims in gruesome tableaus, considering them “exhibitions.” At work, Eve is being pressured to pursue the story at all cost. At home, Eve deals with another kind of pressure — caring for her father, whose dementia is escalating.
While the killer’s thoughts often succumb to clichés, making him more of a stock figure, Bauer avoids this trap with her other characters, including the victims, each of whom is shown as a fully realized person.
Eve proves to be a formidable heroine. On the surface, a crime reporter for a tabloidlike network isn’t the most sympathetic, but Bauer delves deep to show Eve’s humanity. She is a serious journalist who is more interested in justice than a story. The scenes with her father, who raised her as a single parent, realistically show their close relationship, her need to do the right thing by her father and her frustration with his declining health. Readers will also root for Det. Sgt. Emily Aguda, whose petite size belies her self-defence skills.
Relentlessly paced, The Beautiful Dead delivers a solid psychological thriller.