I borrowed Little Red Death from the library, drawn by the title and the synopsis. Although it classifies in Amazon as a cosy mystery, I think it’s more thriller/ fantasy. It starts with a kidnapping, and not everyday someone kidnaps a boring writer to force them to write, right? I am sure you don’t think that kidnapping is a cosy… thing to do.
I’m sorry I did that, couldn’t resist.
If your interest is piqued, the main character is detective Lyla Rondell, and she’s got some serious baggage.
Not a spoiler
The premise of the Little Red Death is this: a wolf masked killer kidnapped a writer, then makes her rewrite/ reinvent Grimm’s fairy tales. Then he reenacts the new version, before leaving clues for our Lyla to find.
This part is clear from the get go, because it has a parallel (ish) story line. I’d say it’s more like the fake story for the undercurrent.
Katie, our poor kidnapped writer, faces a few dilemmas of her own.
Characters
We first meet with Katie, the kidnapper/ killer in the story. Then the team that supports Lyla in solving murders: Jimmy and her boss, Rebecca. The supporting characters are consistent, as Lyla struggles to navigate the case.
It started with Lyla’s best friend, Allison, who disappeared a long time ago. Lyla was forever looking for her friend, who had disappeared, leaving behind an apple. Allison was called Snow White, because the apple had a bite mark, and the other half had poison in it.
The story ties together really well, drawing me in as Lyla struggles to focus on the cases because the killer is actively sending messages to her via more dead bodies.
Questions?
There are plenty of questions, I had many. It is not until the big reveal that everything made sense and stopped making sense at the same time. Little Red Death is complicated. What makes this so fun to read is because it defies normal story telling. By the end, I was confused, relieved and annoyed. The ending felt odd, kind of rushed. Honestly, I think it could have been done slightly better. But it needed an out or something that could explain the storyline in a way that readers can accept.
Verdict
I enjoyed most of it, just not the ending. The ending feels a little rushed and forced. Sure, I like it being unpredictable, but… it made little sense to me. Maybe the author, A. K. Benedict had written herself into a paradox she had to get out of, and had chosen the easy way out.
I think people who like creative stories will enjoy it, because it is highly original. There is much I want to say, but I don’t want to spoil it for you.
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