This was on my TBR for a very long time, and I couldn’t figure out how it got there till I brought up the fact I was reading it at book club and one of my friends mentioned that it was her recommendation. So, thank you! I really enjoyed this (though everyone is unlikeable).

Penance is a faux-true crime story. We’re told at the start that this is a true crime book with “serious problems” but the publishers have decided to make it available in its original format. With that level of uncertainty hanging over the story, we read about a group of toxic friendships which end in the death by burning of one of the girls. It’s not a pretty story and if it were true, would definitely be the kind of thing that true crime podcasts and books cover.

Everyone here is unlikeable and everyone here is an unreliable narrator. We see it most clearly in “Girl A”, who portrayed herself as one of the popular girls, but as the story progresses, it’s clear that she was not well-liked or in a position of social dominance in school. In fact, the more we read, the more we realise that each girl’s perception of herself is quite different from others saw her, and we start to trust them less and less. At the end, when the author of the “nonfiction” is, again, called into question, we are ready not to trust anyone. There are pretty much no heroes here, just people with an obsession with making themselves look good and telling you what feels true to them (the phrase “emotional truth” appears multiple times at the end and is a good term for how everyone tells their story).

Despite the fact that no one here is a likeable heroine, the book is gripping. I wanted to find out more about this case – I thought it was a very good example of how we are drawn to True Crime as a genre. It’s dark, we may not like these people, but we are fascinated. I was reminded of the books A Very British Murder and Savage Appetites, which are actual nonfiction books that explore our fascination with the true crime genre.

Another book I thought of while reading this was the Six Stories series. Six Stories also looks at “true crime” cases, but through the lens of a podcast. So if you enjoyed Six Stories, you may enjoy Penance (and vice versa).

Overall, this was a great read. It’s a pretty big book but I found myself gripped by it, and I enjoyed how it explored the themes of unreliable narrators, “truth”, and our fascination with the true crime genre while delivering an absorbing story.