I got this book from my Secret Santa at Christmas, but I know who that was! For the past couple of years, Lee's family has done a secret Santa where each adult just buys presents for one other adult, up to the value of £60. It makes things a lot cheaper, and it means each adult can choose things they'd really like. in 2025 Lee and I chose a new toaster and kettle that we wanted for our kitchen, but they were only £30 so we could choose other things we wanted too. I said I would like champagne because I love champagne. My Santa was Libby, one of my sisters in law, who knows I love books. She got me the kettle, a bottle of champagne that I have not yet drunk, and this book. It's set in the north east where Lee's family is from, and where Libby lives, and I really appreciated that!
The beginning of the book sees a woman called Roma in police custody. She is lying about what happened with the body she has been found with, but is obviously covering for someone. We then go back to a few weeks ago in Roma's story. She works at a place called Electric Dreams which sells old video games and DVDs and stuff. Roma had some kind of breakdown previously and had to leave her graduate job, so she works there instead of something more stressful. She enjoys the work and her colleagues though. She lives with her two best friends, Jonny and Leila, and they definitely care for each other and all of that.
At work they often get given boxes of house clearance stuff. In one such box, Roma discovers a home video accompanied by a menacing note. She is intrigued and goes to some trouble to watch the video (which is like thirty years old by the time she finds it). On it, there is a video of a young woman passed out on a sofa in a hotel room, and some men talking about how they're going to assault her. The accompanying note identifies these men as members of the band The Razor Heads, who often played in a local venue. Roma is disturbed by what she has seen and is determined to take the video to the police. She begins to get a bit obsessed with discovering what happened to the woman on the video, and her flatmates are concerned about her.
In a parallel narrative, Kat is a mature student in 1995. She is friends with a younger student called Alison. They go to see the Razor Heads and while there, Alison decides to crowd surf. As she is doing it, she is assaulted by random hands in the crowd, including sexually assaulted. She is obviously upset and shaken up. Kat realises that there is a problem with the band and with the venue. She starts to investigate, as she's a writer on the student newspaper, and discovers loads of girls with similar complaints. She is a bit of a loner and is a bit witchy and fierce too.
I liked both narratives and loved how they came together. This book is described as feminist and thrilling with a 90s nostalgia thing, and it definitely did all that for me. I liked it a lot and am giving it four out of five.
