Every once in a while you are lucky enough to stumble upon a book that you want to immediately press into the hands of everyone you know: this is one of them.

This utterly captivating debut set in the Yorkshire of the ‘80’s perfectly captures the racism, paranoia and sexism of the times. So much of the story resonated with me, being around the same age as Miv and living in Leeds during the terrible years that the Yorkshire Ripper was active.

It is at once a touching story of the transition from childhood to adolescence, of those faltering steps of first love and of that first loss of innocence when you recognise human frailty. The characters are all very real and very relatable.

This is an absolute tour de force and following it will be a tall order indeed.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author, Jennie Godfrey and Cornerstone, Penguin Random House UK for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book got off to a great start for me. I love the premise and the story is really clever in how you learn about the community and people in this North Yorkshire town against the backdrop of a young girls search for the Yorkshire Ripper. It’s unique and was well done.

The family stories are really interesting and it gets you thinking about what goes on behind closed doors in peoples homes.

I think the author did a great job of capturing what it’s like to be an adolescent girl, working out your identity and trying to fit in (or not).

The pacing was a bit off for me and despite a promising start I began to find it a bit slow and I wasn’t excited to go back and pick it up.

I know many people have loved this book, I think it is a genuinely fascinating book and well written. Just maybe not for me

It's 1979 and Maggie has just been elected. It's not a popular choice in Yorkshire where Miv lives with her parents and Auntie Jean. They have other things on their minds as the Yorkshire Ripper is in the middle of his killing spree.
Miv overhears her Dad and Auntie discussing moving away from Yorkshire and decides to try and catch the Ripper as she feels that's why they want to move.
Sometimes very funny, sometimes very sad, this book is not only from the point of view of Miv, but also several other people in the locality and they all have their own sad tales to tell.
I really enjoyed reading this.

Just superb.
A lot of advance praise for this one and totally deserving.
Set in the late 1970s a young girl is growing up amidst trouble at home with a mother that doesn’t speak and a father threatening to uproot the family to give them a fresh start. She sets out on a mission to find the identity of the, still at large, Yorkshire Ripper, in the hope this will. On once her family to stay put and not take her away from her friends. I mean, if she can solve that case, that’ll solve everything right?
Roping in her best friend to help her investigate, the girls actually uncover more about their own tight knit local community than anything else. And Yorkshire in the late 70s is home to ts own issues… racial tensions, domestic violence, and more. Through the eyes of two 12 year old girls we see both the innocence and the darkness underneath.
Heavy on the nostalgia, this is a beautifully crafted childhood friendship, the right amount of plot twists and turns, as well as some really shocking and emotional moments. Highly recommended.

The List of Suspicious Things is such an original premise and an enjoyable read. The voice of 12 year old Miv was very believable and her character was one that I warmed to. This story highlights the best of a community at a time when a dangerous killer is at large and, for those of us who were around at the time this is set, most nostalgic. Definitely going to be a huge success! Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Cornerstone/ Hutchinson Heinemann for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Wow, what a brilliant read this is.....I was engrossed from the very 1st page and never put it down until I had finished I! A 12 year old called Miv and her friend attempt to uncover the Yorkshire ripper so her dad doesn't move her away for safety!
Definitely worth reading!

A beautiful book!
I fell into the pages of this story so easily. Miv is a wonderful character and I felt all of her pain and angst, her inquisitiveness and determination. I didn't grow up in Yorkshire, but the coming of age tale is universal and the author tells it so poignantly.
This is a story of a young girl and her hunt for a notorious serial killer in one way, but of course it is much more about community, the darkness that can dwell behind the closed doors of the houses on our street and the light that can shine when those doors are opened.
It is also hugely nostalgic and I could easily relate to some of the situations that Miv and her friend, Sharon, found themselves in – not least shoe shopping with my dad!
In turn heartbreaking and heartwarming, The List of Suspicious Things is a fantastic debut that will understandably be a huge hit.

Thanks so much to the author, NetGalley and to Random House for the opportunity to read this advance copy.

“The List of Suspicious Things” is a beautiful and heartbreaking story. Set in Yorkshire during the time of the Yorkshire Ripper, school girl Miv starts to notice suspicious things about the people in her community. With the help of her best friend Sharon, Miv believes she can catch the Ripper and thinks this will stop her family from having to move away from Yorkshire and her best friend. But as we and Miv learn about the characters in the community, could her investigations cause more harm than good?

This really is a poignant and wonderful book. I absolutely loved it. Unlike books of a similar ilk, the supporting characters were well described and I felt for each and every one of them as their backgrounds were revealed. But there is also humour in the story and I absolutely loved the nostalgia of the era. And while some of the subject matter is harrowing, the Ripper’s victims are acknowledged and the murders are dealt with as sensitively as possible (but realistically in terms of how the community would’ve reacted).

I highly recommend this book and hope that others enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Wow!
Set in Yorkshire in the late 1970’s when the Yorkshire Ripper was in everyones thoughts, this amazing story goes behind the doors of ordinary people as they go about their seemingly ordinary lives. But sometimes it takes a child to see what is in plain sight and Miv , an impressionable imaginative near teenager is determined to do what the police cannot - identify the Ripper..
Although a little slow to start, I soon became engrossed with the characters , the sense of community, and the simmering dark undertones . So many issues re covered and it is difficult to say more without giving too much of the story away.
Be prepared for twists, shocks and even heartbreak.
This book has so much to say about the time , place and language. It certainly got under my skin and I shall be recommending it to my friends..

I’m a few years younger than Miv, the main character in this book, but the period feel of this story really struck a chord with me. The late seventies and the dawn of the eighties are perfectly captured. The characterisation and the quality of the writing were equally good, and I can see why there’s been such a buzz about this book on social media. It’s an excellent, heart-rending read about friendship, grief and growing up in a world where violence against women and racism are commonplace.
While there was a lightness to much of the storytelling, there was always a simmering sense of threat in the background, and the climax of the story was powerful.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book to others and would like to thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an ARC.

I had a good time reading this - the characters were fun to follow and I really enjoyed being inside Miv’s brain. Unfortunately though I only read this a couple of weeks ago and have already forgotten most of what happens more specifically - while I could give a rough summary of the setting and vibes the actual contents of the book haven’t stuck with me.

This is a coming of age story which would be good for all fans of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep.

As someone who grew up in the 1980s myself I felt Godfrey did a great job of evoking the time and the differences in the attitudes that adults had towards children and in the way they were treated. It also did really well at reflecting the changing attitudes towards women coinciding with the first British prime minister, the racism that was rife at the time and the workers issues leaving many families in near poverty.

At first I felt that this book felt familiar with a writing style and trope that I felt we had seen many times before. However, this book grew on me and had many layers which I felt were handled sensitively and movingly. The ending was tenderly done and I felt genuinely touched.

This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

I loved this! Following 12 year old Miv as she attempts to uncover who the Yorkshire ripper is in 1970s Yorkshire, accompanied by her best friend. Desperate not to move south as her Dad is so worried for their safety, they set out to uncover the Yorkshire ripper themselves. A brilliant book.

So this book is based in 1979 Yorkshire with Maggie Thatcher as PM of GB. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone a bit with this one knowing Thatcher just makes me angry in general. This was an overall good book, nice coming of age story. I can see it's merits so will give it 4 but it just wasn't for me.

Yorkshire in the late 70's was a tough place to grow up with the constant fear of the Yorkshire Ripper. Miv and her family have enough issues to deal with and when her Dad mentions the possibility of moving away, she enlists the help of best friend Sharon to make a list of suspicious goings-on in the area. She hopes that if they find the Ripper, her Dad will see that it is safe now and let them stay. In the process of making their list, they uncover a lot of things about their neighbourhood and its residents than bargained for, and a few thing that probably should have stayed hidden.

This was a brilliant, entertaining read. I can't imagine how scary it must have been to be a young woman in the area at that time, but this story portrays it well. With a brilliant cast of realistic characters, it made for a great read.

The List Of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey, a NetGalley review. This is the authors debut novel and I’m not sure what I felt about it to be honest, for me the last 15% of the book was the best part. The author is brave in the issues she tackles within this book, mental health, abuse, racism and grief and she does so with strength and conviction. However despite this I didn’t feel i connected with this book, i what I mean by this is that, I wasn’t dying to read what happened next, the narrative didn’t always feel like it flowed, feeling repetitive in parts. Miv has this morbid fascination with finding out who the Yorkshire Ripper is and in places this makes me feel quite uncomfortable, her family seem unconcerned and unaware of everything concerning their daughter and there are reasons behind this and again times were very different. As I read on its very apparent that Miv’s action have a lot to do with a life of secrets and hushed conversations; a life where she feels largely unnoticed. Miv especially has this curiosity into something so much bigger than her, something that she can’t begin to understand and at the beginning the naivety of youth is loud and clear as she doesn’t even know what the word prostitute mean. Along the way they make mistakes, get into situations they shouldn’t but they also help bring people together, if sometimes this wasn’t the outcome they expected. As I read on I started to understand why Miv was so intent and determined with finding the Yorkshire Ripper, it was an escape from those whispered conversations at home, the unknown environment at home, it got her out of the front door, something to focus on. As I’ve said it was the ending that redeemed the book for me, it felt more structured, more real, warmer and it seemed to have found its flow. I felt quite emotional at the end which I did not expect and it helped that it had a twist I didn’t see coming but I wished this had happened soon, it felt like the story had finally hit its stride only to end. I don’t know if I would recommend this book going forward, it was a ⭐️⭐️⭐️ it only gets that purely for the end, a marmite kind of book.📚📚

Miv and her best friend Sharon are living in Yorkshire in the time of the Yorkshire Ripper. They decide that they can track him down where the police are failing. They start to make lists of suspicious things in their surroundings, people and places. They uncover all sorts of secrets but will they catch the ripper?

A story of friendship, family secrets and coming of age, a delight.

I’m overwhelmed by this book, it is such a moving tale of friendship and other relationships. Set against the horrors of the Yorkshire Ripper, the details of life during the 1970s are perfectly described.. I am so glad we no longer live with such racism, domestic violence and other injustices. Details such as sherbet lemons, dandelion and burdock and fish and chips for tea brought those days right back to me, The many characters and brilliantly portrayed and I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

I can see why so many people are talking about this book and giving it high ratings. For the longest time, I loved the book - until The Thing That Happens Near The End (IFYKYK), when I was so angry. It’s a measure of Godfrey’s writing, that she managed to not only create characters you care about deeply, but also that she then managed to wrap the book up such that I calmed down and forgave things. The book tackles a lot of topics, from a pre-teen’s point of view mostly, as Miv is the main narrator (with other characters sometimes taking turns)… there’s of course the Yorkshire Ripper’s attacks on women, racism, arson, domestic abuse, child abuse, mental health… but the underlying hope shines through so you don’t feel bogged down in misery.

Definitely recommend reading this.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and publishers, in return for an unbiased review, many thanks.

This book is so much more than a tale about life in Yorkshire during the time of The Ripper. It is a book that isn't afraid to broach tough subjects, like racism, infidelity, mental health issues, domestic abuse and tragedy. The multiple voices in this book breathe life into the simplification we have all uttered, "You never know what goes on behind closed doors." It left me in tears but hopeful.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for this ARC.