Beautiful Malice

During lunch at a Sydney high school, popular Alice Parrie invites a stunned bookworm Katherine to attend her eighteenth birthday bash. Alice explains it was the way Katherine ripped the skin off Dan Johnson for being nasty and little when a nervous woman gave a talk about the future. Four years plus since the party that changed her life and her surname, Katherine prays no one learns just who single mom Katherine Boydell raising Sarah was once. The tragedy of Alice is too mindful of the tragedies of Katherine's murdered sister Rachel and Sarah's father Mick; as the flamboyant teen drew out the dark secrets of her reticent new BFF. Thus then pregnant Katherine Boydell nee Patterson failed to attend Alice's funeral; she believes Aunt Philippa is at her side encouraging her to move passed the lingering grief she feels. This is an odd exciting psychological thriller starting with the opening stunning hook "I didn't go to Alice's funeral. I was pregnant at the time, crazy and wild with grief". From that moment readers will want to know who Katherine is and what did happen to all those in her sphere who died. Rotating between the present and four years ago, readers who appreciate a character driven thriller with limited action will want to know what happened to Katherine four years ago. Harriet Klausner

I highly doubt that a large proportion of the negative reviews that I have read for this book were actually written by the age group in which this book is aimed at. I, for one, am in the intended audience, and absolutely loved it. For those who call this book cliche, I do not understand. This type of teenage girl fiction in which I can loose myself, and imagine myself as the characters, is the genre I thrive off. This book made me cry and laugh. It was amazing. I did not expect the climatic 'mystery' ending. It was easy to read. It was laid out sensibly, with the flashbacks easy to understand. I highly recommend this book.

I knew I wanted to read this book, but I guess I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from it-- it's obvious from the introduction that this girl Alice is going to cause a lot of trouble, but I honestly didn't think she could be so cruel. The way the book is set up kinda reminded me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicles of a Death Foretold: we know from the beginning that Katherine has changed her name and moved to a city because of her sister's death, but events unfold later on, and the more the story continues, the more we find out about what really happened. One thing we know from the beginning is that Alice is bad news. As I was reading about the horrible things she does, I found myself going, "Come on; who does that?" only to realize a second later that I actually do know people who are capable of that kind of cruelty. And then there were times when I wanted to grab Katherine and Robbie (the guy who's in love with Alice no matter how bad she treats him) by the shoulders and shake them, going, "She's evil! Run while you can!" But, of course, it doesn't always work that way and we're constantly pulled in by people whom we know are not good for us. And I think everyone knows the feeling of loving and hating someone both at the same time. I think the book very well portrays how one bad decision can change your life, and that you don't usually realize it was a bad decision until you fall apart, and no matter how careful you try to be, you get caught up in things. The ending felt kinda abrupt, and I was left wanting more, but it was a happy ending that felt warm and genuine.

Let me start by saying that I haven't been so impressed by a book in quite a while. I was lucky enough to receive a copy for review and picked it up one day last week intending to read just a few chapters. Two hours later I was totally engrossed in the story and couldn't put it down. This rarely happens to me, but here James has written a psychological thriller that will grab you from page one. Seriously, the start of the book is excellent. What an opener! When we are introduced to Katherine, she has suffered a great trauma in her life, and so when the beautiful and popular Alice insists on befriending her, she doesn't resist, despite her reservations and the warning signs right from the start that Alice may come with more than a few problems of her own. Having experienced a few toxic friendships myself, I found the depiction and the dynamics of their friendship fascinating and very believable. Of course, this is not just a friendship gone wrong. This case is extreme and there are very dark elements at work here. Both girls have their secrets. Alice made me uncomfortable right from the start of the book. I guessed her darkest secret about half way through the book, and when I did I knew she would stop at nothing to get revenge on Katherine. She's unpredictable and downright scary at times. This is a friendship which never sits comfortably with the reader, and an ominous feeling pervades from the start of the book. Alice is very menacing, unhinged, and some of her actions from stalking to downright horror will give you chills. I read an article about this book a while back in which it was said to contain elements of Single White Female, and having read it I thoroughly agree. For me the book revolves around the concept that one bad decision can change your life, cost you the thing you love the most, and define you forever if you let it. Katherine has the courage to overcome this, while Alice doesn't, with disastrous consequences. The writing is fast paced and addictive, jumping between different points in Katherine's life. Sometimes I find this style hard to follow, but that didn't happen here. I was so engaged with the characters and the relationships in the book that I just wanted to find out more. I connected with a lot of the relationships in the book, and I have to say the story evoked quite an emotional response from me. I loved Robbie and Katherine's friendship, and was pleased for her when Mick and Philippa entered her life, and she finally saw Alice's true colours. I generally review books without giving spoilers, but I had to try extra hard here as I know most people won't have read the book yet, and I really wouldn`t want to spoil the surprises for anyone. Overall I thought this was an excellent read. I felt sad when I finished the book because even though it's brilliantly concluded, I was still left wanting more. I can't wait to read the next book from Rebecca James!

I read a lot. I'm pretty tough on crime fiction -- it's so cliche and overdone usually. The same kind of plot with the same kind of characters. I really liked Beautiful Malice because it was fresh and different. It's one of the best fiction books I've read in a long time. I found it to be very suspenseful and hard to put down. I don't want to give anything away about the plot, but rest assured you won't be disappointed if you pick up a copy. I do have to say it's a little predictable at the end, but that didn't bother me at that point.