Imagine some of the most well known Netflix documentaries and the wild winding journey they take you on in hunt for an answer. Now you have an idea about this book.

This was such an engaging mystery, the mixed media element of course brings an added layer of intrigue. My mind was constantly thinking about the book while I had put it down. You will truly be taken on a journey. While murder is obviously not the most joyful subjects, this book isn't dark and bleak but at the same time isn't a cosy read either; it's all about the intrigue of the mystery.

It is a journey of the incredibly complex life of our murder victim, and discounting the suspects as we go through. The book reads as a script from the documentary TV show being aired in an attempt to crack a 20 year old case - with six experts in the crime field, with a relative of the aggrieved being the director. These experts will interview and travel across the globe in search of the answer. And don't worry about the possibility of feeling detached from the events 20 years ago and not knowing the expert's characters, as the experts all have intriguing stories of their own. There are also communications, newspaper articles and forum posts being made before and after each episode. You're travelling between time of filming and time of airing, giving yourself a sense of being apart of the audience also trying to solve the crime on the forums, just with a little bit more inside knowledge.

I would recommend a physical book to easily flick between pages. The UK paperback was readable but still I found the graphic elements such as newspaper articles sometimes hard to read due to too small font.

There were a few errors in the book, such as dates not aligning. Laziness in the mixed media, such as some voicemails being exactly the same length. This is an English setting, there is an American character so it is understandable the language and concepts they have are different, I also understand this is written in American English, but now and again I would come across something that wouldn't be how the English do something. Also police and criminal justice procedures where completely disregarded for the sake of progressing this TV investigation at times - an ex detective is not going to go on camera and not so subtly give major hints on where to dig.

Why 3.75 stars and not 5? I felt more details about the murder victims life could have been involved in the circumstances surrounding the death. I wish a different route had been taken for the circumstances of what actually happened. I felt like the mixed media elements could have been amped up a little bit more - I get this was real life mixed media (such as script and communications). But even a few graphical illustrations of events, such as something like from the Illuminae series would really allow the format to shine. But recommend this book? one thousand percent.

In terms of the reveal:

I had the ideas all floating in my head. (I must admit going in from reviews and a friend, I was aware the reveal wasn't too ground breaking).

I figured that the sisters obviously knew something from what and how they were discussing. But also because why include their texts otherwise, which was slightly annoying as the book should be guessable from the clues not the formatting. I felt if it was family it appeared Maura was protecting Amelie, but also I thought 'would they go down the cliché route of it being Guy?'

I do wish all the strings of the different lives our imposter led had tangled and caught up with him, or just one of the leads investigated was the culprit. Ian Wilson did have a role, Rebecca McKenna also came back to haunt Guy. It would have been more interesting and convoluted crime, also the journey of the doc was revealed not at all relevant to the crime. To me I could see the experts may be involved and once a few were cracked, it was just a matter of time waiting for the others to follow. The Netflix doc element really came in here, where such a winding road was taken for their to be a very simple explanation. That being said all the reveals and the effects on the understanding on the narrative made the story very gripping - Netflix follow that formatting for a reason!

The last two newspaper articles where a sad ending to the mystery, also loved the touch of genius of giving the reader one last mystery to solve. Who could want Guy dead? - there was only really one person. Who had red hair and glasses? - the obvious suspect, I searched for the page and found them. It gave me a boost in my mystery solving skills, when all was practically confirmed in the last newspaper snippet. But that being said, I wish I felt like that about the main story, instead the reveal was a tragic one.

 

But this must have been a very good novel, because despite not being the best way to plot a book, I was still gripped and happy with the end. Even if I would have preferred different, I didn't feel our journey was wasted, because there was more to solve about

so called

Luke Ryder than just his death.