What an outstanding Debut book by the author , I really enjoyed this book and I won't be able to go into bookshop again without thinking the bookseller is there going to kill me after reading this book.

If you love your crime and serial killer books you going to love this book I won't ruin this review with any spoilers many thanks to netgalley for the arc of this book and the publisher

I wish the author all the best with this book

Everything about Death of a Bookseller screamed my name, the title, the cover, the blurb, there was no way I could walk away from it and I had a feeling I’d have a great time with it. And although Death of a Bookseller was not quite what I expected it to be, I did enjoy it.

Death of a Bookseller is told from the alternating perspectives of Laura and Roach, who are both booksellers but seem to have little else in common. Scratch the surface though, and you find two complicated, damaged, vulnerable but tough women, each in their own way. I’m not sure I liked either of them, but they did keep my attention and interest throughout, and I did come to understand where they were both coming from.

What it boils down to is that Roach is drawn to Laura but the more she insists on developing this relationship, the more Laura withdraws. It doesn’t help that Roach is obsessed with true crime, while Laura has her own reasons for despising the genre.

Judging by the cover, I had expected a little more action and a little more blood than I actually got. This is a psychological thriller that is all about the psychological aspect of this toxic relationship. It explores the depths of obsession and portrays a slow descent into something akin to madness. In its own understated way, it’s devastatingly creepy.

Although Death of a Bookseller wasn’t exactly oomphing, I was entertained throughout. I enjoyed the slow burn and the build-up. And the setting, obviously, I mean, it’s set pirmarily in a bookshop, what more can you possibly need?! However, I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a bit more oomph and pizazz towards the finale. I would have liked it if the build-up had led to a slightly more dramatic ending. Although I have to admit the epilogue is rather chilling.

Overall, I had a great time with Death of a Bookseller and if you enjoy slow-burning psychological thrillers I would definitely recommend this one.

Not sure what I was expecting when I opened this book but it wasn't the type of thriller I would normally read. For me sadly, this book missed the mark and just didn't grab me at all. I was very disappointed as I'd been looking forward to reading it

I absolutely devoured this over the course of an overcast Saturday and it was an absolute delight to read in the worst way possible. What a nasty little book, it’s slithered into my brain and will stay there for a while. If you love unlikeable narrators and female obsession this is a must-read.

A great debut novel.
The story is told through dual POV.
A gripping thriller.
Two booksellers working in a failing bookshop on Walthamstow High Street I might live in ozz but know that area well from when i lived there.
A good book well done.

oooh boy did I not like either of these main characters - they are both awful people! Both "not like other girls" characters who just grated on my nerves so much - definitely had a face of disgust and eyerolls aplenty when reading this and even a few muttered curse words to the characters!

This really added to the story for me - I had nothing I wanted to happen to either character, I wasn't rooting for anyone - just along for the obsessed and bumpy ride. Found the discussion of true crime, its fans, obsession and who tells the story really fit in with the book and didn't seem like the author monologuing her opinions on X issue which is so easily done in novels.

'Death of a Bookseller' is a really original, quirky novel full of unique characters. Captures the world of bookselling perfectly.

I have been trying to make sense of my obsession with Alice Slater's Death of a Bookseller, but I cannot for the life of me understand what exactly happened. I remember reading something about it on my Twitter feed at some point, being curious, casually going through the synopsis and thinking that it wasn't really my genre. Then suddenly it was everywhere. Everywhere I looked, its green and pink cover followed me around (I’m making the conscious choice to be a romantic here and make no reference to Twitter’s algorithm). When I saw it was available for request from NetGalley, I quite literally jumped at the chance.

When my request was accepted (thank you Hodder & Stoughton!), I once again, quite casually and from a place of curiosity, opened it on my phone to just go through the first few lines… which quickly became chapters and then I was on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, glued to my ridiculously small screen. The tension. I couldn’t stop. It was almost as obsessive as Roach’s pursuit of Laura and her story. I just needed to know, needed to understand, needed to make sense… and then I felt like I was existing on an odd parallel to the actual story. It developed so organically, contracting and expanding at a pace that holds you steady. I was intoxicated.

As we get closer to what I'm calling the final encounter (which ended up not being quite final in many ways - and that ending though!), I was holding on to every word as a singular entity, as the secret keeper. My heart was beating fast, and everything around me went quiet – hyperawareness. You almost feel it, that same craving that seems to keep Roach going, her steps growing bolder by the paragraph. It's unbelievable how believable it is.

I was only disappointed that we didn’t learn more about where Roach was coming from. It was all about Laura. Aaaah, I wonder if that’s supposed to be ironic. It works! It did grip me. I was hanging on every line, waiting for something, anything to happen. I also loved the inner workings of the bookshop, the science behind the magic.

Somewhat a departure from my usual reading style, as I said before, an unexpected trip that I thoroughly enjoyed – and again, that ending! It’s out on April 27th.

Roach is a bookseller, loner and complete true crime obsessive. She is quite happy limiting her company to stories of serial killers and her pet snail Bleep - until Laura starts working in the same shop. Everyone loves Laura; she writes poetry, is great with customers & just generally easy to get along with. However something about Laura catches Roach's interest and she becomes obsessed with figuring her out.

This is so compulsively readable, I flew through it in an evening and did not want to put it down. I loved how it seemed to move through genres as the book progressed, ending with the thriller element. The characters felt so well realised, I think due in part to the dual perspectives.

Loved it. Really loved the critique of how we as a society consume true crime content. Can't see this being anything but a massive hit!

4.5 stars.

I loved this book so much. I feel like I had some emotional attachment to it because the book is about bookshops, bookselling, identity and writing - I took it with me on a weekend to Oxford and it has just really clicked with me being in a bookish little city and it will forever remind me of that trip. I adored being in Spines with Roach and Laura, jumping into each of their heads to find out what the other one was up to and just escaping life for a while to live in their slimy little lives. The setting of London was so atmospheric and I found the book hard to put down most of the time because I was so drawn in to what was happening.

Death of a Bookseller has some light thriller tropes but what I really love is how it plays with the true crime genre and the idea of 'literaryness'. It's definitely a book for people who like books which I really appreciated. Slater's writing I found jarring at first but soon settled into her vivid and transporting descriptions.

Honestly such an amazing and brilliant book which I feel like I connected to on a really personal level. Alice you knocked this out of the park and I just want to read the whole thing over again.

I loved this book. Extremely well written. Lots of suspense and intrigue. The plot and characters are fab. Highly recommended.

Death of a Bookseller follows two perspectives from completely opposite booksellers; true crime obsessed Roach and Laura, who despises the fascination and glorification of serial killers.

It's a dark story, but Alice Slater writes in such a way that it manages to feel lighter than it actually is. Don't get me wrong, this book is creepy and haunting in its detail of Roach's obsessions, but the writing flows along naturally, making it easy to read.

The two main characters are polar opposites of each other and still incredibly unlikeable. That being said, they are written so carefully and detailed that you find yourself both living and hating them depending on the circumstances they find themselves in.

The details and insights into the bookseller world were fantastic. It's definitely a book that will resonate with anyone who has any experience working in retail! I also enjoyed all the literary mentions throughout this book.

However, I found myself feeling that this book could have been shorter. Parts of it felt too repetitive, which made parts of the plot feel less impactful and too drawn out.

Death of a Bookseller provides a unique angle on the thriller genre; creepy and dark but still highly entertaining in a lighthearted way.

A great, dark, funny, unputdownable read — especially for those of us exhausted with the true crime industrial complex!

Characterisation that makes you feel sick it’s so good. The story of Roach, a true crime obsessed ghoul who latches on to the new bookseller at her Walthamstow shop. Laura immediately feels the need to stay far away from Roach. While getting to know the team it becomes clear that Laura’s mother was murdered by a serial killer, which sends Roach in to overdrive.

I found this book excellent, but the highest point in it was the discussion of the harm the true crime genre does to women. I feel strongly about this and I haven’t seen it in print before. It was so well executed.

I would recommend this to anyone with similar views or anyone that has ever met someone that they needed to get the hell away from.

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Brogan Roach, referred to as Roach in work, works as a bookseller in a shop in Walthamstow. She keeps mostly to herself, which is fine with her colleagues, who see her as an odd goth type, scruffy, ill-kempt and with a serious obsession with true crime. Roach is happy to keep to herself, she has all that she wants in her true crime books and podcasts and her pet snail.

Then, in the run up to Christmas, the store takes on some new staff. Laura is the opposite of Roach in every way. She dresses to colour-coordinated perfection, writes beautiful poetry, has the perfect lunches, carries the perfect tote bags, and is the perfect book selling employee. Roach instantly resents Laura for everything she portrays. But this resentment quickly turns to obsession, as Roach feels that there is something connecting her and Laura, and will do anything to find out what it is.

The story is told in short chapters which alternate between the two main characters. Neither Roach nor Laura is likeable, and the more that we read, the more disturbing things begin to get. We start to pity Roach at times, but then quickly are horrified by what she is doing and want to warn Laura. Then we flip to pitying Roach and despising Laura. The tale builds, getting gradually more twisted, and you fear where the ending is going. It keeps you turning the page, fearing for the worst, but not knowing who you want to come out faring for the best. It brings you to dark and uncomfortable places, where obsession keeps building.

I was expecting a crime or murder/thriller novel. It is not that. It is creepy and disturbing, yet engrossing and gripping. Once you start reading it you won’t want to stop. Not knowing what happens next is not an option. Not one that you will be comfortable with. The ending will take your breath away. It will then stay with you once you have finished it, lingering as you reflect on the reflection on society it perhaps contains.

*I received this copy from NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.

This book is split into two perspectives – Roach and Laura – who both work together in a bookstore in Walthamstow. I give full props to the writing in this as I was absolutely repulsed by Roach both by her actions and how she was described. The characters were incredibly unlikable so once again I can only praise the writer for making the reader feel so uncomfortable. Although I wasn’t completely enthralled by the book, it was disturbing and tense enough to make me race through it until it was finished.
Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the advanced reading copy.

I would say on the whole I would rate this around 3.5 stars. I was very excited to read a thriller that was set in the world of bookselling and though the pace was overall quite slow, the things that kept me reading were the tidbits of information about working in retail and specifically a bookshop that only a fellow bookseller could know. I enjoyed how different the tones of Roach and Laura were and how grubby I felt just by being in Roach's head, and the sense of unease that pervades the entire book is a testament to Slater's writing. I did however think that this was a story I have read quite a few times before, especially considering the trope of unreliable alcoholic narrator. I found myself pushing through by enjoying the wry bookselling commentary up until around the 60% mark where I was actually gripped and wanted to see the book out to the end.

<I>Death of a Bookseller</I> was a weird one for me. It was a very interesting read, albeit far longer and more repetitive than it needed to be, and yet I was entertained throughout.

The two characters that the book follows are completely opposite from each other, and yet both still very unlikeable - Roach more so than Laura, but still. I liked the way Slater wrote Roach - what an immensely repulsive character. She was creepy and gross and got under my skin, truly horrible. Then there is Laura, who is originally presented as the “good” character, which you then see she isn’t, really. She’s awful, just not in the same way Roach is. The other characters are all really just throwaways, though.

I do feel the book went on for much longer than was strictly necessary. Many things just repeated themselves over and over, removing some of the impact of certain things. I enjoyed the exploring of the True Crime genre in this, though it merely really presented the sickest side of it, and the other side completely against (with valid reason), but I feel it missed the average reader/viewer who consumes it, and was truly only touched on in the briefest, lightest way by Eli.

Slater writes in a style that just flows along nicely, so even though it could have been shortened, it was easy to read. Will definitely check out more of her work.

So you're obsessed with all things bookish & true crime? Snap, let's be friends. And, initially that's how it all innocently starts when Roach, self confessed gothy bookworm & true crime junkie meets the new Spines bookshop staff member Laura. She is also an avid reader & writes true crime poetry, surely they are destined to be besties? What begins as a wholesome attempt to make friends slowly unravels into a dark compulsive & brilliantly creepy obsession which will repeatedly make the hairs on the back of your neck stand bolt upright.

When I read the blurb I initially thought Death Of A Bookseller was going to be a twee little cosy thriller along the lines of The Thursday Murder Club (which I do love, by the way) but I was delighted to find out it was anything but. Slater has created an absolute gem which is deliciously dark & impossible to put down.
I think the real magic of DOAB is down to the two fantastically crafted protagonists who couldn't possibly be more different from each other. Roach is your classic feral girl who is obsessed with the macabre, brilliantly depraved & somehow scarily relatable. Lauren is, in the words of Roach, your stereotypical 'normie' with the perfect everything on the surface including a cloying saccharine sweetness. The dynamics of both characters clashing are portrayed perfectly & the tension bubbles from the page. It's really hard to not immediately pick a side, even if it may not be the 'correct' one. Surely I'm not the only one who not so secretly loves Roach?

Also, what I found fascinating & yet probably in theory shouldn't have really worked was the minutiae & mundanity of the everyday routine of the rundown failing bookshop. As a total bookworm there was a cosy familiarity & safeness that worked perfectly to contrast & highlight the sinister activities that were occurring behind the scenes.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on both the ebook & audiobook which inevitably meant I had the whole thing devoured within the day. The audiobook is equally as good with two perfectly fitting narrators who fully embodied each character's very unique personality.

An irresistibly dark, unputdownable, enthralling thriller!

I see a lot of reviewers on here talking about not liking the characters in this novel. That's probably the point - it's a writerly technique used by Slater. If you didn't like them, that's fine. That lack of 'like' for the characters is pertinent to the plot, and there were aspects of it (which is, essentially, a thriller) that I enjoyed. The narrative pace was good, and the themes of books, true crime and missing people are compelling. Slater writes adeptly, and the narrative is controlled. The fact that she's evoked such reactions from the one-starrers means that she's good at creating evocative characters whose personalities are pretty dark. Worth a read, this one. Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.