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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A novel about bullying in British society, February 10, 2010
Told in alternating chapters of witness statements and straight narrative, this engrossing book explores what leads up to a shooting in a London school in which three students and a teacher are shot, before the gunman turns the weapon on himself. There's no mystery in who did it - obviously. But having shot himself, there is no clear source of information on what drove him to this action. The school and the police see it as a tragic, but clear cut event. All that is except for female detective Lucia May. Perhaps it is her female sensitivity that leads her to not accepting the easy answers, or perhaps its her own treatment within the all male environment of the Met that won't let her rest until the real issues are addressed. The book is fast paced and well written. By and large the difficult task of making each witness statement sound distinct from each other is carried off well. Not only that, but at the start of each interview you are never sure who is speaking, but each becomes clear without the author ever seeming to labour the point. The result is a disturbing, poignant exposé of what the press would call "institutionalised" bullying both in the school system and the police. Exposed too are the all too real effects of political pressures that have the effect of maintaining the status quo. Lucia May in particular is a well drawn character - and one that I'd love to read more about. It is her story and her investigation and perhaps some of the other characters are less well fleshed out, although equally this affords pathos to the story, which is all too real and feasible. I liked the general tone of the ending, but wasn't quite convinced by Lucia's final lines, which didn't seem likely to have had the effect that they are suggested to have, but all in all, a terrific, thought provoking book and highly recommended.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Debut, March 13, 2010
This review is from: A Thousand Cuts: A Novel (Hardcover)
This is a great mystery debut. The hero gets bullied (sexual harassment) while she investigates an assassin who was driven to kill by bullying at his school. It's a mystery melodrama, not a literary novel, even though its literary techniques give the book far more life than most mystery stories have. The policewoman heroine is bullied on the job too much for believability (the PRIME SUSPECT tv series did this kind of thing more subtly, and better) and the villainous school headmaster tolerates -- even encourages -- student bullies who are just short of homicidal. The result is that the reader feels more and more frustrated and outraged, while individual scenes tend to sag a tiny bit. We can be made to hate many of the characters; it's harder to believe in them fully. Nevertheless this is a tremendous effort. I got angry reading, and a short time later (the book is the length of a Robert B. Parker novel) I was deeply satisfied by a nice bittersweet ending. May Mr. Lelic write more and more of these.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An impressive debut, November 10, 2010
When Detective Inspector Lucia May is charged with investigating a shooting by a teacher at a school assembly, her supervisor expects a quick wrap up of the murder/suicide since there were hundreds of witnesses. Lucia's suspicions are raised by the fact one of the pupils from the school is hospitalized after being beaten and traumatized; a crime which no one claims to have witnessed. Rather than writing the report her governor requests, Lucia investigates further and uncovers a culture of bullying at the school that is perpetrated by both the faculty as well as the students. The hostile work environment the shooter faced is similar to the misogynistic climate of the police force, where she is the only female detective. About half of the chapters in A Thousand Cuts are written in third person and focus on Lucia's investigation and life. The other chapters are the statements from witnesses Lucia interviews. At first the format is a bit jarring as it takes a few paragraphs to figure out who each narrator is, but the way that Simon Lelic gives each character a distinct voice and presents the testimonies in such a way as to tell a coherent and engrossing story makes this book truly unique. This is the author's first novel, and I will be eagerly awaiting his future works.
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