Gritty, nasty, compulsive, Penance explores the toxicity of 2000-2010 tumblr and the true crime community, and of course the sheer hellscape that is teenage girlhood. I loved Boy Parts and am glad to report that Eliza Clark’s second novel does not disappoint. It has things I loved about Boy Parts, including pitch perfect dialogue, mixed media like blog posts & texts, and an impeccable sense of place, but it’s also something new entirely.

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In this book within a book, we’re in the hands of Alec, a journalist with a controversial past, who is looking for his next big break. He finds it in the brutal murder of Joan Wilson, a 16-year-old girl burned alive by three of her classmates in a fictional northern seaside town. Alec travels to Crow-on-Sea to research the definitive account of this crime, burying into the psyche of the three teenage perpetrators and their victim.

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I’m not sure whether it’s just because they’re set in the North where I live, but I just love how well authors like Eliza Clark and Jessica Andrews capture what it’s like to grow up here. Even if your experiences are (hopefully) very different to the characters, there’s still so many ‘omg yes’ moments to the setting, the schools, even the supporting characters. With Penance, Clark explores what could happen when the ennui of a small town, the lure of dangerous online communities, and the general treachery of growing up a teenage girl mix into a lethal cocktail.

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Stories told from multiple perspectives and incorporating different media always work well for me, and Eliza Clark pulls it off incredibly well. It’s quite a chunky book but I blew through it in like two days because you literally cannot stop reading. A definite yes from me!