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BEAUTIFUL MALICE
by Rebecca James
Bantam, July 2010
260 pages
$25.00
ISBN: 0553808052


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

This is the tale of two adolescents -- eighteen and sixteen. Alice, the older, is unspeakably malevolent: she is cruel; she insinuates herself in places where she is clearly unwelcome; she is utterly narcissistic -- in other words she makes Lady Macbeth look like Mary Poppins.

The other young woman is Katherine, much too naive and trusting and easily manipulated by Alice. We learn early on that Katherine's sister, Rachel, a musical prodigy, died at the age of fourteen. Only as the story unfolds do we learn that she was murdered, and still later do we learn the horrific details of the murder. Katherine brought Rachel to a party where there was a great deal of drinking. She lost sight of her sister, and when she found her, she was passed out in the back of a car. Instead of doing the sane thing and returning to the party for help, she accepts a ride from the driver of the car, someone she's never laid eyes on. When Katherine realizes that Grant is not driving them home, she pleads with him to take them home. Instead, he drives to a deserted spot, where he rapes and murders Rachel. He shuts Katherine in a shed, from which she makes a (fairly preposterous) escape. But she can't help blaming herself for Rachel's death. In a moment of weakness, she confesses to Alice, who turns the murder back on Katherine in a malicious game of "Truth or Dare." Much as she tries to tell herself that she is not responsible for Rachel's death, it is clear that if she hadn't brought her sister to the party and if she had not refused her boyfriend's offer of help, Rachel would be alive.

A Y/A audience would probably be more forgiving of Katherine's stupidity than I. As an adult, I found it impossible to believe how long it took for Katherine to see through Alice's pretense of friendship as nothing more than a tool to make Katherine her plaything and puppet.

BEAUTIFUL MALICE marks Australian author Rebecca James's US debut. Though the book is apparently set in Australia, there are no specific references to any locations -- such as the Sydney beaches, the Sydney zoo -- references which would have helped localize the story and enhanced the reader's pleasure.

§ Mary Elizabeth Devine taught English Literature for 35 years, is co-author of five books about customs and manners around the world and lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Devine, August 2010

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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