Published by Bloodhound Books on March 21, 2019
I loved the look and sound of Paper Dolls instantly and knew it was a book I really wanted to read. The cover's brilliant and really drew me in, and Emma Pullar is a new-to-me author so I was looking forward to seeing if the book was as good as I thought it would be.
Paper Dolls is quite the character driven book. In alternating chapters, we meet three flatmates, Mike, Kerri and Bea, who are each frustrated in their lives and their careers. Mike is struggling to get and hold down a job he really wants. He is judged and turned down for roles he feels he is perfect for, and it is making him bitter and skint. Kerri is a journalist but she is yet to get her name to a hard-hitting story that could make her career. Until, one day she is led to something that could change everything. Bea is a writer of supernatural stories. She would love to be an author but never quite makes it, but when she gets a new agent, who is eager for a crime novel, things could be about to change...
The book begins with a dark and gruesome scene that sets the tone for the rest of the book, though the violent scenes from then on are few and far between. The way Paper Dolls is written - the way the chapters are set out - made for a compelling serial killer thriller as the chapters in between build up the suspense and the tension and the further into the book, the more it become an edge-of-the-seat, nail-biting read.
In all honesty to begin with, although straight away I was curious as to how things would develop with the serial killer, I struggled to invest much in the three flatmates stories. I wasn't drawn to them straight away, nor did I find any of them particularly fascinating characters, but the more I read of Paper Dolls, the more this began to change thanks to the author's wonderfully descriptive style of writing that I found thoroughly engaging from page one. Every scene in this book, every smell and sight and action, everything was written so vividly I could picture every moment unfolding in front of me. Every sentence lingered and had my imagination in overdrive because the scene was told in such an expressive way.
With every chapter the book got better and better. One more chapter was never enough as more things came to light and more clues were left as to what was to happen next. The pace and tension kept on rising and the more it did, the more hooked I became to the level that I set my alarm two hours early so I could finish the book undisturbed - weary-eyed but completely satisfied.
As far as the serial killer went, it was kind of unnerving being able to in a way get to see and sort-of-understand their motives. But as their list of victims increased, and the names became more familiar, I was always on the lookout for who could be next and wondering how long it would be before everything unravelled. The author keeps us on our toes with the serial killers' short, tension-filled chapters and whilst as I got further into the book I became more interested in Mike, Kerri and Bea, I was always eager to be back watching the serial killer in suspense, intrigued by what was going to happen next.
Paper Dolls is a sharp and incisive thriller, dark and intriguing. A true cancel-all-plans kind of read.
Review copy provided by the publisher - this was my honest review.