Review: The Body Lies by Jo Baker

Title: The Body Lies

Author: Jo Baker

Published: June 2019, Knopf Publishing Group

Format: Hardcover, 288 pages

Source: Publisher

Summary: 

A dark, thrilling new novel from the best-selling author of Longbourn:
a work of riveting psychological suspense that grapples with how to
live as a woman in the world–or in the pages of a book–when the stakes
are dangerously high.

When a young writer accepts a job at a
university in the remote English countryside, it’s meant to be a fresh
start, away from the bustle of London and the scene of a violent assault
she is desperate to forget. But despite the distractions of her new
life and the demands of single motherhood, her nerves continue to
jangle. To make matters worse, during class a vicious debate about
violence against women inflames the tensions and mounting rivalries in
her creative writing group. 

When a troubled student starts turning in
chapters that blur the lines between fiction and reality, the professor
recognizes herself as the main character in his book–and he has written
her a horrific fate. 

Will she be able to stop life imitating art before
it’s too late?

At once a breathless cat-and-mouse game and a layered
interrogation of the fetishization of the female body, The Body Lies gives us an essential story for our time that will have you checking the locks on your doors.

My thoughts: This is the first book I’ve read by Jo Baker and I was utterly entranced by it from start to finish. It’s a literary crime thriller and I think that that is what sets it apart from some of the other books that I have been reading lately. It’s definitely not a fast-paced thriller, but rather it focuses more on the characters and builds the suspense ever so slowly.

This is a dark book, there is no question about that. But it’s such a compelling read. From the first page, you are pulled in. The writing is exquisite and what really stands out is that this is such a quiet book, compared to the other thrillers out there. This isn’t one of those books that uses twist after twist to keep you hooked. Rather, it uses the unfolding of the trauma occurred to our main character, who is never named, and how she deals with the aftermath, never guessing that moving away isn’t going to be the end of it.

This book is unsettling and unnerving. It totally gets under your skin and I loved that! I also loved that interspersed within the story we get snippets of the students writing samples, and boy are some of these quite chilling. The characters, while not very likeable and very deeply flawed, are quite addicting and you just need to find out where this is all heading. You find this compelling need to follow the journey these characters take in this book, to see how it all plays out. But, again, it’s a dark book, and there are some unsettling scenes.

I liked this book. It was tense and a bit creepy a times, and at the same times, it’s quite thought-provoking. It’s definitely one of those reads that stays with you long after you finish reading. If you are looking for a different kind of summer thriller, I definitely suggest picking this one up.