Sweetpea (Sweetpea Series, #1)

by C.J. Skuse

'If you like your thrillers darkly comic and outrageous this ticks all the boxes' The Sun

The last person who called me 'Sweetpea' ended up dead...

I haven't killed anyone for three years and I thought that when it happened again I'd feel bad. Like an alcoholic taking a sip of whisky. But no. Nothing. I had a blissful night's sleep. Didn't wake up at all. And for once, no bad dream either. This morning I feel balanced. Almost sane, for once.

Rhiannon is your average girl next door, settled with her boyfriend and little dog...but she's got a killer secret.

Although her childhood was haunted by a famous crime, Rhinannon's life is normal now that her celebrity has dwindled. By day her job as an editorial assistant is demeaning and unsatisfying. By evening she dutifully listens to her friend's plans for marriage and babies whilst secretly making a list.

A kill list.

From the man on the Lidl checkout who always mishandles her apples, to the driver who cuts her off on her way to work, to the people who have got it coming, Rhiannon's ready to get her revenge.

Because the girl everyone overlooks might be able to get away with murder...

• ISBN10: 077836903X
• ISBN13: 9780778369035
• Publish Date: 27 November 2018 (first published 20 April 2017)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Mira Books
• Edition: Original ed.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[zooloo1983]

Well holy mother of f*@#fssfjksdnfvlkns~’#[]$5 god.


WHAT A BOOK

This book! I really do not know how to write a review about it, without having to swear! Seriously! This book is epic, no wait it is BEYOND epic! I can not describe the ways of how much

I FREAKING LOVE THIS BOOK!

Now this book won’t be for everyone, so if it isn’t please move along and forget me and my name because you are missing out!!

I am so late to the party with this book, I read this book because of a fabolous review by Vicci over on Audio killed the bookmark (read her review here)

I was glued to this in my car listening to this book, and must have looked like a lunatic as I was laughing out loud so much! Honestly, I know this is a dark book with murder and that, but it is done in a way where Sweetpea, aka Rhiannon is just funny with her dry wit! This book is a scream!

Okay, let me do a serious review….ahem


Just clearing my throat
Okay, so where was I! Oh yes, Sweetpea! This book is such a dark, brutal, thrilling comedy which is…very dark! Rhiannon, the sole survivor of a horrific event when she was a child at Priory Gardens, where she saw everyone bludgeoned to death and she took a hammer to her head! The whole thing has left her, well unbalanced to say the least. She does not have the “normal” emotional behaviour us mere mortals have, something in her brain doesn’t work quite right, she has no compassion, and doesn’t feel, unless it is for her gorgeous little dog Tink.

This is more a diary of Rhiannon, and her life, most of the entries start off with a Kill List, and some of the people and the reasonings to why they had to be killed had me laughing so much. She is a watcher of people, and if you cross her….well let us just say do not cross her! I love her justifications in life, and how she tells us when she is being “normal.”

I really do have to shout out to the narrator of the book, Georgia Maguire, has done such a fantastic job with this, bringing Rhiannon and her psychopathic ways to life. She captured Rhiannon perfectly, and her narration was spot on! I can’t wait to listen to In Bloom as I only got it on audiobook because I knew she was reading it.

One time Rhiannon upset me, but only once. I can’t tell you how or why, because it will ruin it for you, but I will say it’s when she and Craig have gone away. It was just sad. But if I could be friends with her, if there was a way where she didn’t kill me, I think I would love to but would have to be the real her, not the fake one.

However, as I have said before this book is fab! I have rushed out and got the next book in the series because of THAT ending! I mean WTF! I have to know what happens! I am over the moon as I have also learned today that there will be a third book in the series and it has been commissioned for TV! Holy mother of god! So frigging excited for this!

Ms Skuse has basically created a character who voices all the annoyances we have people, like being cut up in the car, people not saying thank you etc etc and then takes it to the next level! It was a hoot!

Seriously if there is one book you pick up and read (or listen as I did) then make it this one! You don’t want to spend your life missing out as I did! But only if you don’t mind death, swearing, crudeness, sex and then laughing about it. Or as Ms Skuse said to me on Twitter, I am a bit of a freak really.