Invercargill City Libraries

Dead Guilty

Posted by Donald on 17 January 2012 | 0 Comments

Tags: pursue 100, your reviews, suspense

David Belbin

Dead Guilty is a fast-moving and exciting murder mystery set in Pendle, England – an ordinary town, not dissimilar to Invercargill.

The plot revolves around the main character, an eighteen year old schoolboy named Jon Crier whose family is new to the area. Faced with the struggles of settling into a new town and a new school, life has been far from stress-free for him. However, things become even worse when he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time with devastating consequences.

On the way to school one day, his curiosity compels him to investigate the unmistakable acrid smell of smoke coming from a decrepit house. Overwhelmed by the intense fumes upon entering, it is Jon whom the police find at the scene of a murder...

Convinced he has been framed, evidence begins to mount against Jon, leading to his arrest for a young woman's murder. He is forced to adjust to a life in which his school, his peers, even his family and best friends no longer trust him. The betrayal of those so close to him leads to a catastrophic nervous breakdown.

Unbeknown to Jon, his younger brother James has been keeping a secret since that fateful day – a secret which could completely turn the tables in Jon's favour. With his brother in prison, James devises a cunning plan to prove Jon's innocence and if possible, bring to shame those responsible for wrongly imprisoning him.

Overall, Dead Guilty is a riveting recount of an amazingly complex series of events. Despite having the potential to become very confusing, Belbin skilfully crafts the story in such a way that the reader is never discouraged from continuing. The short chapters mean climatic developments in the case are revealed in manageable amounts and one can easily pause throughout the course of the novel to contemplate these. Furthermore, the characters are very believable in that their actions and responses to the situations in which they find themselves are entirely realistic and understandable. Therefore, I would certainly recommend this book to anyone eager to escape the frustrations of boredom by losing themselves in a world full of chilling suspense which never slows down.

 

(Reviewed by Stephanie)