Publication Day Book Review – I Shot The Devil by Ruth McIvor

Once you read it you can’t unread it.

This small image does not do this book justice at all…

Synopsis

They went out to the woods to have fun. And two of them didn’t return. A dark, twisty thriller of small town buried secrets for readers of IN THE WOODS (DUBLIN MURDERS), THE GIRLS and THE SECRET HISTORY.

Twenty years ago, the devil visited the woods around Southport, Long Island, claiming the lives of two boys. A local youth was charged with murder. Case closed.

Now journalist Erin Sloane has been commissioned to dig deeper into the story and is sent notes from someone long forgotten. But can she trust what she unearths? And how can she unravel what happened when she has her own secrets to hide?

Rich with the sense of a community imploding, buried secrets, corruption and racism, I SHOT THE DEVIL is a stunning portrayal of teenage hysteria and sexuality. 

Review

‘Mothers, fathers hide your daughters…’ These are the words of an old song. But they kept coming to mind while I was reading I Shot The Devil.

The book is all about DYSFUNCTIONAL. It is about dysfunctional families and failing systems, ignorant communities and social norm that kills rather than nourishes.

I Shot The Devil is not about shooting and definietely not about The Devil in biblical sense. It is about old secrets that do not want to die. It is about truth that noone wants to know about. It is about lives ruined beyond repair by those who were supposed to protect, love and nourish.

A group of teenages seeking thrills everywhere they can. When it is not enough they seek some more. They know no boundaries, no routine, no ‘no’ and no parental control. They are rebels without a cause causing injuries to their bodies and souls.

These teenagers grow up into adults covered in scars physical and mental. Erin Sloane, star of the school, uncronwed home coming queen of dysfunctional is coming back to town. She needs to dig the hill of secrets and lies to get The Story, to get herself a byline that will keep her afloat and take her to bigger and brighter things. Howeve, this story is her story. It is too personal and too dangerous to go back to.

It does not matter who actually shot whom. It does not even matter who is the devil in this story. I Shot The Devil is one scary book. It is scary for parents for we do not want our kids to suffer all of things characters in this book go through. It is scary for teenagers as they know just too well that all these truths are real.

The voice, the dynamics, the characters. They all make for one scary, suspensful and interesting read.