Rita Marsh is not in a good place right now. By day, she continues to run the private care home left to her when her parents died. In her spare time, she tracks paedophiles. The latest one she tracked committed suicide soon after she exposed him. Not only does she feel bad about that, the police are on her back. Meanwhile Leila, Rita’s best friend from schooldays, has reappeared in her life after a school reunion. And their former English teacher has been accused of having underage sex with a pupil.
As Rita becomes increasingly enmeshed in Leila’s trauma, her own traumatic past is rising to the surface, together causing Rita to spiral out of control.
The Revenge of Rita Marsh is a well-plotted and skillfully told story. The characters are well rounded and their actions ring true. On one level, it’s a decent revenge thriller — surprisingly good for a debut novelist. At a deeper level, it’s distressing and sad, leaving the reader with many questions about justice, morality, trauma and friendship, and about just how much you can accept from someone who does the wrong thing for the right reasons. Or at least understandable reasons. It also leaves one very sadly contemplating the overwhelming prevelance of paedophiles, the difficulties faced by those trying to stop them and the lifelong damage they inflict on their victims. It’s intense.
Thank you to @NetGalley_UK, @NileshaChauvet and @faberbooks for giving me a free copy of this book. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.
#NetGalley_UK #bookreview #TheRevengeofRitaMarsh
You might also like: When We Were Silent | Rose Ruane