Is it murder if as young woman picks up man to takes him back to her place. But on the way pulls into a rest stop, to let him pee, before tricking him into a nearby waterway and watching him get attacked by an alligator. Something she knew would happen, something she was banking on happening.
That is the way this book starts, and it’s absolutely gripping.
Set in a University in Florida the book looks at how some young men in Frat Houses take advantage of women as if it’s their right.
Not only do they seem to get away with it but they don’t even bother trying to hide their activities, in fact just the opposite they boast about it.
So when some of these men become the victim of alligator attacks is it a coincidence, or is it just bad luck.
Some Police Officers think it’s just bad luck, but some think that there is somebody getting revenge for the countless women abused by these men.
Rebecca is a criminology and journalist student and shares a University suite with a group of other girls.
Rebecca is the sensible one, the one who doesn’t drink, the one who thinks study is more important than partying.
Ellie is the polar opposite. A party girl who thinks studying just gets in the way of her nightlife life style.
Ellie has other problems, she likes to fight, she especially likes to fight the type of men who take advantage of the girls on campus. To exasperate the problem she’s also very vocal about her feelings, in particular she’s loud and proud about the fact that the men that are killed deserve what they got, and shes glad they got it.
Rebecca, and the other suite mates, try to keep Ellie out of trouble with the boys on campus and the Police investigating the deaths, but they are not always successful and Ellie manages to put herself clearly in the frame as the number one suspect.
This book is a brilliant look at crimes and victimology.
The girls who are abused are done so in the worst way, not only do they suffer the physical abuse but they then have to face the mental and emotional abuse as the men brag about their conquests and activities.
The usual defence of “they were asking for it” because of the way they were dressed, or because of the state they got into is at the heart of the story, and unfortunately it rings all to realistic.
But when the abusers become the victims, then things change.
Girls who should be seen as victims suddenly become the target of police inquires.
But as the male victims start to stack up, and as the police investigation is getting nowhere, the killer becomes a mythical street vigilante that the girls on the campus are cheering on, and even celebrating.
Things are changing. The Police need to find the killer but the students are making it difficult.
Rebecca and the other suite mates suspect Ellie is the killer, but shes their friend, and whoever is doing the killing is helping to keep the female students safe, so why should they report her.
In fact they find it hard to talk about it amongst themselves, they all have suspicions, but they all feel guilty sharing them.
Moralistically what would most people do in these circumstances. With no hard proof, just suspicions, would anybody accuse their friend of being a killer, who just also happens to be gaining local hero status, and in the process ridding the world of some scum.
Pages: 303. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
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