An Ethical Guide to Murder has a fantastic and thought-provoking premise! Thea discovers she has the ability to predict exactly when someone is going to die. She then finds out that she can ‘take’ all or part of that time and ‘give’ it to someone else. She quickly spirals into a series of events where she is taking and giving lifespans based on each individual’s worthiness; she creates her own ethical guide to help her assess each situation.
It’s a big burden to throw on a young person who has difficulty taking responsibility for her laundry, never mind people’s lives.
This is my favourite type of speculative fiction: the world as we know it with just one single fantasy element that changes everything. While reading An Ethical Guide to Murder, I was constantly reminded of James Halperin’s The Truth Machine. Indeed, the two books are radically different in virtually every way; what they share is that they both make you read the entire book simultaneously engrossed in the story and objectively observing while questioning your own moral stance. And their core questions are pretty unforgettable.
In its execution, An Ethical Guide to Murder is not perfect. The writing, plotting, style and character development are certainly competent — it has a light and mostly breezy tone that makes for easy reading — but not remarkable. It’s popular fiction with a mostly urban setting and somewhat typical young-ish adult middle-class characters. Comparisons to Naomi Alderman’s The Power are generous, to say the least. (Alderman is considerably higher on the literary ladder and her book is about a world-altering power on a massive scale, not one individual.) But boy is it a bloody good debut and interesting to read! I give it a 3.5-star rating for entertainment and originality. An easy and enjoyable read, recommended.
My thanks to Netgalley for giving me a free copy of this book. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.
You might also like: The Truth Machine | James L. Halperin