“The Taking of Lily” is the first volume of a diptych written by Marie Neuser. This thriller, inspired by a real event, is both a gripping police intrigue and a genuine legal chronicle.
The second installment, “The Taking of Gloria,” was released last May by Pocket Editions.
In a small seaside town in England, the mutilated body of Lily Hewitt is found. She lies in her bathtub, her fingers gently clutching two locks of hair.
Some time earlier, in the same neighborhood, the body of a Korean student was discovered. And young women have been mysteriously losing a cleanly cut lock of hair.
Living in this neighborhood is Damiano Solivo, an Italian settled in England, a discreet and simple man who unexpectedly finds himself at the heart of the investigation. A series of presumptions incriminate him, but Solivo swears he is innocent, claiming to be a victim of machinations.
Marie Neuser offers us here an intense legal chronicle that begins for the British police in 2002 with the brutal murder of Lily Hewitt, discovered by her two young daughters; yet its roots reach back to Italy in 1993…
Although the murder is sordid, the author never dwells on the details or delves into the gory, and while the novel begins with this murder, the rest of the story truly focuses on the investigation.
The story is told from the perspective of Gordon, an English police officer. It spans years, and the weight it places on Gordon’s life is palpable. We follow, in an extremely realistic manner, the complexity of an investigation, the hopes and disappointments it generates, and there were many in this case.
The telling of this news item is a true analysis carried by the intelligent and meticulous, yet lively writing of Marie Neuser, plunging the reader headlong into this senseless investigation that sees its main suspect, an incredibly manipulative man, slip away like an eel.
With “The Taking of Lily,” Marie Neuser undoubtedly confirms her talent, first discovered with her debut novel, “I Kill French Children in Gardens,” a dark and impactful novel.
“The Taking of Gloria,” the second volume, focuses on the Gloria Pratts case and the Italian part of the investigation, recounting the genesis of a monster.
