[A] provocative debut ... Her novel is absolutely thrilling. But it’s a slow unspooling that demands patience ... Richards’s debut is so much bigger and smarter than simply just 'the Dahmer novel' ... The Comfort of Monsters is an intense and artful examination of the relationships between sex, power, violence, and identity, as well as the deeply subjective nature of human memory. It’s a bravura performance by Richards that should demand readers’ attention.
Richards combines the most satisfying elements of mysteries, thrillers, and literary fiction to create one of the most dynamic pictures of a coming-of-age story cut short by tragedy ... A novel with electricity in every word.
[A] wrenching debut ... Pierced with moments of hope, this is a melancholy and somber book, a dark examination of the toxicity of unresolved grief. Meticulously researched and atmospheric, this is a perfect pick for book clubs and true-crime aficionados.
A haunting page-turner ... Richards painstakingly evokes a sense of the urgency and drama ... A slow burn novel, neither flashy nor twisty, yet undeniably compelling and complex ... A haunting exploration of memory and consequence, The Comfort of Monsters is a riveting novel ... Creative and exceptionally clear-eyed.
[A] devastating debut ... The author does an excellent job of showing Peg at two different points in her life ... The other characters are equally well drawn. In a glut of dead girl stories and true crime vehicles, Richards pulls of a wrenching and rewarding twist on both.
