Normal – Book Review

Normal, written by Graeme Cameron, is far from normal. It is a brilliant book, twisting the reader’s mind into a warped sense of reality. In first person, we are walked through every murder. When you think he will strike again, he ends up walking the woman home.

He talks in great detail about his first victim Sarah; What her preferences were and what she was like as a human being. Before telling you – her tongue tasted of sugar and spice. He talks normally about how he cut her body up with a hacksaw like it is just another day in his life.

Thus begins his reign of murders.

With two women in a human sized cage (in his basement) he is always one step ahead of the police. They are sure he is the culprit responsible for a string of missing women. They visit him on a weekly basis. While they are in his kitchen, he is sure he can kill them if they get too close to the truth.

The most engaging character is Erica, who goes from hugging her fellow victim, to kicking her when she is getting on her last nerve. We don’t get to understand her cellmate because she is soon taken into the woods for a chance to escape.

Two other women arrive in his life – Rebecca and Annie. They change his perspective on murder. He saves Annie from being raped, a knight in warped armour. When they go back to the flat, he chooses not to murder her. He falls in love with Rachel and often leaves Erica alone to spend time with her.

I love Erica because she is a match for the main character. When she is forced to spend time alone, she acts like his wife when he gets back. She even hits him over the head and locks him in his own cage as a punishment.

It is a well written, and you walk in a killer’s shoes with all the unease this book brings. I never got to know his name but that didn’t bother me in the slightest. From predator to victim he soon learns what his victims went through.

A great read with an unexpected ending.

Five stars and more for this book.