Review of Killing Your Best Friend

[Maggie Johnson 2]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Killing Your Best Friend" by Valda Taurus.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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One night, in a rural Alaskan town, a man named Ivan is murdered. His best friend Ax is arrested for the crime. The two had spent the night drinking, and Ax can’t remember what happened. While Ax’s wife and his neighbor are convinced of his innocence, others are certain of his guilt. After all, Ax has murdered before, exactly fifteen years ago to the day.

The case catches the attention of Detective Mohr, who arrives in the small town to investigate. As he begins speaking with people around town, he discovers that this case is anything but straightforward. Killing Your Best Friend by Valda Taurus is not only a story aimed at answering the question of who killed Ivan, but also a story about the lives and relationships of everyone affected by the crime.

The author did a wonderful job of creating the characters in this book. They were all given detailed backstories. Throughout the story, the reader could see how pivotal moments in each character’s life shaped them into who they are and how their pasts impacted their relationships with those around them.

While the story was filled with well-developed characters, there were several issues that kept me from enjoying this book. The atypical phrasing that the author used, while technically correct, felt unnatural. (Though I was able to add several new words to my vocabulary.) The story was told using the third person omniscient point of view, and I enjoyed the insight into the thoughts and feelings of the different characters. However, after closely following a character for several pages, suddenly using one sentence mid-paragraph to convey the feelings of another character felt erratic and made the story difficult to follow. It was especially confusing in scenes involving multiple characters with the same pronouns. Finally, I found the ending of the story disappointing. Since the book was as much about the characters as it was about solving the mystery of the murder, I had hoped that once the identity of the murderer was revealed, we would be able to see how this revelation affected the other characters. The fact that few words were spent on this made the reveal feel anticlimactic.

Though the characters were interesting and the plot was intriguing, the writing style added a layer of confusion that detracted from the story. The ending made me feel like all the time I had spent getting to know the characters was wasted. There were a few grammatical errors, but what I found even more distracting was that the author couldn’t seem to remember what year the original murder took place. It changed multiple times throughout the book. For these reasons, I would rate this book 2 out of 4 stars.

I would recommend this book to more mature readers. There is some profanity, but the book is not overly graphic or explicit. However, due to the writing style and the fact that a lot of the story revolves around adult characters and their relationships with their spouses and children, I feel that this story would be enjoyed most by adults.

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Killing Your Best Friend
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