Erica’s Pick of the Week: The List of Suspicious Things

Twelve-year-old Miv, the protagonist of Jennie Godfrey’s The List of Suspicious Things, is surrounded by mysteries. Some seem unsolvable: Why does her mother no longer speak? How long will her sourpuss Aunty Jean be living with them? Why is her best friend, Sharon, so comfortable and confident in her own skin? Why does her dad want to move?

This last one, actually, isn’t much of a mystery. Miv’s father is worried about the Yorkshire Ripper, a real-life serial killer responsible for a string of murders in 1979 England. But it IS unthinkable – Miv can’t bear the thought of leaving her best friend.

Instead, she sets out to solve another mystery: the identity of the Ripper. If she can catch him, she’ll earn the reward money – which her family could definitely use. She can stay in Yorkshire with Sharon. And maybe, just maybe, her mom will get better. 

If Miv can catch the Ripper, maybe life will go back to the way it was.

Miv (with an assist from Sharon) starts watching the adults around her, recording what she sees in a notebook. But while clues about the Ripper are scarce, her observations reveal plenty of unexpected connections and secrets. It turns out that people’s  words don’t always match their actions. The world doesn’t always work as it should. Over the course of the novel, the mysteries she and Sharon encounter have very little to do with the Ripper, and everything to do with growing up. 

Jennie Godfrey’s debut expertly captures Thatcher-era Northern England. She has an eye for tiny details (Miv covets drainpipe jeans and rollerball lip gloss; the local Pakistani shopkeeper loves to sing along to Elton John) as well as darker undercurrents – the racial and economic tensions of the era. Godfrey even captures the slang and speech of late-70s Yorkshire, making for an immersive read. And the Ripper was, in fact, a real killer who terrorized England — after his capture, Godfrey realized he worked with her father. She handles his crimes, and particularly his victims, with tremendous care and respect.

Godfrey also conveys, viscerally, what it’s like to be an almost-teenage girl: the quickly shifting friendships, the giddy uncertainty of a first crush, the simultaneous yearning for independence and familiarity. Miv is awkward and self-conscious, afraid she’ll be left behind as Sharon seems to sail through adolescence. She’s achingly relatable, especially when tragedy strikes, and watching her come of age is a bittersweet joy.

Poignant and authentic with an unforgettable heroine, The List of Suspicious Things is the perfect choice for fans of emotionally rich, character-driven stories with an element of suspense, such as like William Kent Krueger and Chris Whitaker.