Fiona Barton’s first two novels... were international bestsellers. The British novelist’s third offering, The Suspect, deserves equal success. It's an expertly written look at a painful subject ... Barton’s characterizations are exceptional .. By the end of The Suspect, police think they’ve identified the killer of the teens and he’s about to go on trial. Readers may question his guilt but, for this reader, this ambiguity only makes Barton’s novel more fascinating.
... Fiona Barton continues to charm ... Barton’s classic use of short chapters and multiple narratives keep the reader on edge, helping to move the story along at a brisk pace. Her ability to sustain the tension while not overwhelming the reader is to be applauded. And, as with her earlier works, Barton’s skill in weaving both unexpected yet believable twists and turns right up to the final page is commendable.
Ms. Barton is the queen of the slow burn mystery and this book is no exception. The plot doesn’t twist and turn so much as it meanders down a slightly curvy road ... Compelling and addictive, The Suspect slowly sucks the reader in. I think the slow start and the leisurely pace of the beginning might be a turnoff for those looking for an instant thrill, but if you are willing to put in the work, the payoff, in the end, is worth it. The book certainly left me thinking about it long after I put it down.
... Barton has pulled off the trick of writing a series whose individual volumes still deserve reviews ... But The Suspect, despite its interesting and intricate murder plot, falls short of its predecessors because Barton tries to do too much with too many characters ... The Suspect does not represent a sophomore slump; first, it's Barton's third book, and second, the slicing and dicing between perspectives (which include Waters, parents of the girls, and two young men) feels like less of a writing issue and more like an editing issue ... Another piece of cardboard: Friends who conform to 'good girl' and 'bad girl' stereotypes. The setup for the young women's falling out feels like a sitcom device, and while these pairs do exist in real life, their dynamic here feels as forced as the parents' dialogue ... In The Suspect, the setup and setting are original, but the action is hampered by too much stage business. If you've never read Barton's work, start with her first two novels. If you loved those books, join me in waiting for her fourth.
The narrative is told through a flurry of brief chapters, told in various perspectives from one of the mothers of the missing girls, to the British inspector on the case, Kate the reporter, and Alex leading up to her death. And while this style should help to accelerate the pacing, it oftentimes slows down due to Barton’s incessant need to detail each character’s every move ... Readers may grow frustrated with how long it takes the author to finally reveal why the girls are killed. The tell-tale clues and descriptions of certain characters along the way make things a little too easy to figure out. The Suspect may falter at times as a thriller yet it steadily succeeds as a story about mothers, how fierce their love can be when their children’s lives are in jeopardy and how it surpasses right or wrong, even in death.
[Barton's] latest effort falls a bit short of those lofty expectations. The Suspect is much slower, takes a while to get going, and once it does, some of the characters are a tad shallow. Kate, who takes the lead early, is fleshed out nicely, and Barton does a nice job bringing the setting to life. Still, the lack of development for secondary characters makes it hard to relate to or care about anyone else in the story. And while the setup is solid, the plot ultimately concludes with a predictable ending that might food casual readers, but not big fans of the genre ... Fiona Barton’s fans, who know what they’re getting with one of her thrillers, will eat this one up.
When did all thriller writers begin to fashion themselves as psychologists? There’s a dead giveaway to any possible plot twist—a character whose face or eyes is described as 'blank' ... once the killer is clearly outed, even though it takes another 100 pages for all the pieces to fall into place, the novel quickly loses steam. Even a final moral conundrum that should immediately freeze the blood of any parent seems overly constructed rather than shocking. By that point, it had become tiresome reading about most of the characters and their shifty relationships to the truth ... This has the potential to be a thoughtful thriller with an interesting setting, but Barton is too willing to cater to expectations—short chapters, familiar clues, and stereotypical villains.
