Blueeyedboy

by Joanne Harris

FICTION

DOUBLEDAY

14/04/10

Joanne Harris’ latest novel is a tale of deception and damage, internet personae and posturing, retribution and the shadow of the past. Told through the posts blueeyedboy makes to his website ‘badguysrock’, it is impossible until the final pages to disentangle reality from lies. ‘I do believe in the perfect crime,’ blueeyedboy boasts, admitting he is a murderer. But who has he killed? Is he a fantasist? Are the ‘fics’ he posts on the website merely stories for his creative writing group, or are they confessions? Is it coincidence the victims’ real-life counterparts are dropping dead? If blueeyedboy didn’t kill them, who did? And what happened to Emily, the blind girl who ‘sees’ music in colours?

This is a story that sets out to mislead, and genuinely surprises. Its creepy narrator will fascinate you, and the wicked fun of the book is peeling back the layers to discover how much truth he tells about his appalling mother and embittered brothers, trapped into behaviour patterns by the colours she dresses each son in for convenience: black, brown and blue. Similarly, Albertine, the girl blueeyedboy is apparently obsessed with, is not who she seems.

Part revenge tragedy, part black comedy, and set in the same fictional Yorkshire heartland as Gentlemen & Players, Joanne Harris’ new novel enfolds us once again in the claustrophobia of small-town life. The writing has a harder edge, and doesn’t rely on the magical whimsy of Chocolat and Blackberry Wine, but it does share their gothic intensity, and draws readers into a dark fairy tale of modern life.

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