Malice Aforethought

⚖The case for it

The first line tells you what Dr Bickleigh intends, so the suspense runs on how he operates and whether the village notices. What makes it work is his vanity: the narration sits inside a man convinced he is superior while letting you see straight through him, with a “complete lack of awareness of how transparently his actions come across.” The 1920s village of tennis parties and gossip networks is sharp social comedy rather than scenery. Readers report it “getting better and better as the tension continues to build,” and find it “fascinating to watch Bickleigh sink further into delusions.”

— the honest librarian

✕The case against

The runway is padded, and “it took too long for anything to happen” before the book gets where it announced it was going. Readers split hard at the midpoint, strong on the first half and out of patience by the second, as if two books had been stapled together. Nobody is worth the company: Bickleigh is repellent, his wife is overbearing, and “who cares about any of these people?” recurs. Some find him a villain sketch rather than a character study. The closing stretch also strains, with “the story spiralled further and further beyond my credulity line.”

— the honest librarian

6h

honest hours

9

sittings