cover image The Lover

The Lover

Laura Wilson. Felony & Mayhem (NBN, dist.), $14.95 trade paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-934609-88-0

Wilson’s period thriller offers a compelling setup inspired by the true, if little-known, rampage of the Blackout Ripper, who slaughtered prostitutes during the London Blitz of 1940. After two drunks and an air-raid warden stumble across the corpse of a woman carved up with a can-opener, the book flashes back to the events of the preceding five weeks from the perspectives of RAF Flying Officer Jim Rushton, hooker Rene Tate, and Lucy Armitage, who rides out the German bombings with her family in Clapham. While Wilson (A Little Death) reveals the identity of the homicidal sadist early on and rarely refers to the official police investigation, she easily maintains suspense, even as she peels back the layers of the murderer’s twisted psyche. Some readers may regret the lack of a coda spelling out where the author parted from the historical record—and whether the real-life killer was ever identified. (Nov.)