I am currently waiting for the physical copy to arrive to re-read this but I had a hard time following overall! I loved Boy Parts and think that the digital copy just made it a bit confusing for me. I would also love to try out the audiobook. I am determined to love this book!!

I loved Boy Parts and so I expected to love Penance, but man it's for me all conflicted!

The author really nailed the grossness factor of true crime consumer culture. She screwers My Favorite Murder and The Last Podcast on the Left and it's creepy how accurate she gets it. I loved the different formats of how the story was told; I'm a sucker for a book-within-a-book! I also appreciated how fleshed out the characters seemed...I did get annoyed with the narrator a lot because well, his story is the most boring and I wanted to get back to the girls who committed the atrocities. I do think we as readers aren't supposed to like the cis-white male narrator though.

(𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 @𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 #𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬.) It pains me to say it, but 𝗣𝗘𝗡𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 by Eliza Clark just wasn’t the book for me. I was all in for the premise which centers on a horrific murder of one teenage girl by three others. Nearly ten years later a journalist has interviewed and corresponded with dozens of people associated in one way or another with the crime. He’s put it all in a book, but with so many sides to the story, questions arise as to how much of it is true?⁣
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Unfortunately, the further I went in this book the more cringey it felt. There was just too much of the girls being cruel to each other, too many trips down dark internet rabbit holes that included serial killer fandom. For me, it was less a mystery/thriller and more a very dark coming-of-age story. It really should have worked for me!

Clark has written a compelling examination of the True Crime Industrial Complex through the eyes of a fictional true crime journalist investigating the story behind the brutal murder of a sixteen-year-old girl.

This was an unreliable narrator jamboree featuring realistically portrayed (aka vicious) teenage girls, murder, and a whole lot of Tumblr feeds. I don't know that I'd recommend this to everyone, but as a (guilty) long-time consumer of true crime content, the structure of the book and it's commentary really spoke to me.

A disgraced journalist recounts the events that led up to the brutal murder of 16-year-old Joan Wilson by three teenage schoolmates in a sleepy northern seaside town on the eve of the Brexit vote. Through witness accounts, interviews, news articles, social media posts and correspondence, "Penance" provides an unflinching look at the true-crime industrial complex and its toxic relationship with the internet fandom culture.
"Penance" is an interesting concept – a fictional story presenting itself like a true crime novel. The character development of our three main characters is tremendous. Clark has expertly conveyed the hell that is being a teenage girl and all that comes with it. It's an all-consuming, compulsive read that I cannot recommend enough.
Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Faber & Faber for sharing this advance copy with me in exchange for my honest review.

This book tackles the true crime industry from podcasts, fandom, journalism and internet posts. Three teenage girls kill a fourth in a small town in the UK. It covers bullying, obsessions and yellow journalism. The narrator is a true rime writer that desperately needs a hit book. He scours his internet sources until he finds this murder that has had little publicity to date. He is the narrator.

The book is told through emails/texts among the girls, their tumblr stories, podcasters and more. The portions of the book that are 'written' by the girls certainly come off as authentic but for a mature reader, I was bored. I am not the target audience for this book. I can see how younger people may be captivated by this story because much of it is told in youth's vernacular. I do believe this is an author to watch and will try her other works.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper for this advanced readers copy.

This was at the top of my list to get to and although it took longer than I would have liked, I am so happy I read this. It’s hard to articulate but it’s just perfect. There is a seething rage simmering behind the words - anger at the exploitation of victims, rage at how the world generally treats young women, and an overall frustration with the ways in which the internet shapes identities until they’re beyond our control.

This is the first book I’ve read by Eliza Clark and it’s not going to be the last. Stunning from the first word. I absolutely loved this even when it was making me angry!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. Easily one of the best books I’ve read this year (perhaps even the best or top 5!).

Now that's how you do a take on the true crime industrial complex. Brilliant, subversive, well-written, emotional. All the good adjectives. Eliza Clark forever.

i can actually say with confidence that i enjoyed clark’s sophomore novel, penance, much more than her debut, boy parts.

at first penance appears to be an honest “unbiased” retelling of a chilling true crime murder amongst a group of teen girls, although lurking beneath the surface is a dissection of the viral addicting atmosphere that makes a spectacle of it all.

told through the perspective of an unreliable journalist, who at first stumbles upon the story of a murder under questionable circumstances and motives. it’s established from the beginning that this journalist has the upmost intentions of remaining as truthful to the narrative as possible for the sake of those involved. through the evidence and testimonies collected by the journalist, it is made obvious how these horrific crimes taint the lives of many and how much they continue to heavily affect those connected — a massive reminder that these stories many consume for enjoyment are those based upon real suffering and trauma. It kind of reminds me of those true crime podcasts with names like “My Favorite Murder” that demonstrate this blatant disregard and kind of glorify these tragedies. It also pegs the question of how much of these stories from these so called true crime experts are accurate? Through the process of alterations for entertainment, how much of the story remains true to the original? Is there any care left for the real lives they’re tampering with by creating these new versions? Doesn’t it just become fake news? It really becomes about monetizing others traumas.

i’m very impressed with how subtle but how impactful clark’s point is here. I highly recommend.

I loved this book. It's an interesting take on the true crime phenomenon and might be hard to get through for anyone who isn't (or wasn't) super online, but for those who have grown up on the internet, a lot of the references felt fresh and organic; often, I find that incorporations of things like social media posts and text messages in books don't feel super natural, and the voices aren't distinct enough, but these all read like very different points of view and the posts read true to the form they were supposed to be from. I enjoyed the twists this book took, and thought the commentary on the way we consume true crime was very smart and thought-provoking.

Penance was my first novel I've read by Eliza Clark and I thought this was such a unique book. The style of writing in a true crime fashion really had me immersed in the characters/family as well as the actual crime itself. I will say that because it did have a lot of information like a typical true crime book, it took me longer to finish that expected. Overall I really enjoyed it though.

A brilliant, anxiety-inducing, and totally gripping thriller whose strength lies not just in its plot but in its intricate character work. As she does in her previous novel, Boy Parts, Eliza Clark paints a disturbingly vivid portrait of female insanity and rage, but here, I feel like she goes a step further by truly humanizing her most inhuman characters. I began the book knowing the incredible act of violence that Clark's characters had committed and very skeptical that she'd be able to give them much depth. But not only does Clark successfully humanize and flesh out her characters, she brings the reader to the brink of sympathy for what led to their monstrous actions, ultimately resulting in a series of interesting character studies and a thesis buried somewhere in there about cycles of violence and the impact of trauma.

I also felt like Clark nailed the politics of middle/high school girls. Her characters were contemporary to my own time in middle school and early high school, and despite any of the U.S./U.K. cultural specifics that might have been different, I found some of her descriptions eerily similar to my own experiences. There's a timeliness to it that captures the weirdly specific way that teen girls bullied each other circa 2014 and how phones/the internet/pop culture played into that, down to the niche delusions of 2014 tumblr.

While I didn't find this unnecessarily gratuitous in its depictions of violence, it's definitely not for the faint of heart; there's extremely graphic violence and quite a few allusions to sexual assault. Steer clear if thrillers aren't normally your thing. That said, as someone really put off by true crime, this fictionalized true crime (oxymoronic, I know!) type of thing ended up working for me. I couldn't put this down in the middle of the night, so thank you, Eliza Clark, for destroying my sleep schedule.

PENANCE
Eliza Clark

I am as surprised by my rating for PENANCE as you are. Trust me, I thought I was going to love it, but ended up with tepid feelings and a middle-of-the-road rating.

In PENANCE, Clark explores the dark side and sensationalism of true crime and the exploitation of victims in the process.

PENANCE is a stunner for sure. The writing is explicit, the happenings are devastating. I was initially moved by the message. But got bogged down in the details. The conversation was worth having, however at times I felt we were having different conversations and talking about things I was overall disinterested in.

PENANCE serves as a microscope and at times you’re not sure if you are the ant under it or looking through it. Either way, if you read PENANCE, you’ll never listen to true crime podcasts the same or ever again. The next true crime documentary you watch will be tainted with perspective.

I am appreciative of that.

PENANCE is dark and unemotional. To be dark and disturbing, however, is not enough alone. And I felt all the extraneous details washed out the story and moved the target.

I gave PENANCE three stars and thought it was worth reading but wish it could have been more. Maybe next time.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper for the advanced copy!

PENANCE…⭐️⭐️⭐️

An extremely astute and nuanced critique of the True Crime industry. Thoroughly entertaining to read, which itself makes a point about the voyeuristic nature of the culture it examines. Beautifully done

I love Eliza Clark's writing, and the topic of true crime and true crime podcasts is a timely and fascinating one that is under-explored in the literary fiction world. Some might criticize this for falling into the gory and exploitative nature of true crime and true crime enthusiasts but I think you have to commit to it to fully do it justice. The way this is structured also helps us live in this world of people writing about and thinking about horrible acts of violence.
I don't want to say that I enjoyed this per se because of the subject matter but I was compelled to keep reading and it kept my attention so I would recommend it.

10 years after 3 teenage girls set 16 year-old Joan Wilson on fire, Alec Z. Carelli is writing the definitive true-crime novel about the horrific incident. There's the premise, however, this book completely blew me away. It definitely reads like a real true-crime novel with bits and pieces of podcasts, interviews with family members, and even the girls themselves. It's not such a black and white crime once you read this fictional account of a horrible crime.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Harper for this e-arc.*

It was difficult to figure out exactly what to write about Penance after I finished; it stuck with me in a haunting way and I felt a bit changed after reading it. A fictional true crime story about the horrifying torture and murder of a teenage girl by her schoolmates in a small seaside town – hard not to leave a mark on a reader with a story so unflinchingly savage. What surprised me most were the emotional beats of the story that underscored the humanity crying out underneath all this chaos.⁣
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The allure is undeniable from the beginning – I got hooked fast and couldn’t put it down until the end. Clark’s acuity for fleshing out each main character into a complex and believable personality is praiseworthy; I found myself feeling sympathy for each one of them at some point in the story.⁣
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I also found myself marveling at Clark’s ability to subvert format throughout the writing in a way that felt mostly seamless. It did get a little unwieldy at times, and there were moments that dragged a bit, but it was equally fascinating to unearth the grim history of the town as it was to explore the psyches of the characters involved in the murder.⁣
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Overall, the book is an achievement; it feels cliché to say, but at times I felt so winded it was like I was holding my breath while reading. Penance is an addictive and compelling read that stands out among the buzziest releases of the year.

*I received a free advanced reader’s copy of Penance on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Summary: After a horrific murder perpetrated by three teenage girls, journalist Alec Carelli goes to the English seaside town of Crow-on-Sea to investigate. As he interviews family, friends, and the three perpetrators, he uncovers layers of conflicting stories. Penance is Carelli’s book, told in a collection of interviews and speculative fiction on how the events might have transpired.

Review: What this novel does well is shine a light on the exploitative nature of true crime podcasts and books. At best tasteless and at worst exploitative and cruel, true crime entertainment has exploded in the last few years. Penance empathetically shows the emotional toll true-crime entertainment can have on the victims and family members.

In the past few years, the Internet has become rife with true crime stories and horror content. In the novel, this intersection is cyclical, as the perpetuator’s obsession with murder and true crime on Tumblr fuels the ensuing murder. And later, that murder is reported on by true crime podcasters and by Carelli. Social media is a sponge for true crime content, soaking up all and any tragedy it can find, no matter the truthfulness. This process is often objectifying, turning the real perpetrators and victims of these crimes into characters of a story, tailor-made for praise or ridicule.

Clark’s novel doesn’t offer a clear-cut solution, but rather points out how disrespectful and self-serving these narratives have become.

This is a book in a book, which illustrated the themes of this novel perfectly. When we watch true crime, it is easy to forget that what we hear is filtered through a narrator, who has their own biases, meaning we may never know the “truth.” While I read, I felt like a sleuth, trying to find the inconsistencies in each interview or biased wording from the author. The entire novel is impressive because Clark had to not only construct a narrative filled with a complex plot and characters with their own motives, but then feed that narrative through the unreliable narrator’s thoughts.

From the commentary on exploitative true-crime entertainment to the structure of the novel, another question this book raises is the nature of truth. Who gets believed? What stories get told, and by who?

Even though we are aware that the novel is an amalgamation of interviews and speculative fiction chapters, it is easy to take this as the truth. I was easily lulled into a false sense of security, until the last few pages, making me question my complacency in accepting the narrative at face value.

If you are not a fan of true crime, this might not be the best book for you. Penance deals with some heavy topics and includes graphic details of violence, so definitely look up trigger warnings for this book beforehand.

But despite the violence and cruelty, I couldn’t stop reading. I was sucked into the story because I was obsessed with sifting through the sentences to find some truth: what was fact, fiction, or warped truth to fit a character’s agenda.

While the writing and storyline were detailed and well-thought-out, I struggled with the violence and the cruelty. This is 100% my fault, as I did not do enough research on the book beforehand.

But ignoring my sensitivities, this is a well-written book with an engrossing web of lies to untangle. This is a great new pick for fans of mysteries, thrillers, and true crime.

Penance will be published on September 26, 2023.

RATING: 6.5/10

The most important thing you should know before reading this review is that I only read 33% of this book.
I was really looking forward to this story and my initial interest was piqued even further in the opening lines when we learn that our narrator, a man attempting to tell the "true" story of a murder in a small town, may not be reliable. This causes the reader start this story with a level or trepidation and mistrust in the narrator, which I think was an interesting choice by our author.
This story is fiction, but it's meant to feel like you're reading a true account, which rises the steaks and makes the story feel more intense, more dire.
Unfortunately, the story started to lose me when it dove into the history of the town where the murder being discussed took place. While you're meant to gather a broad idea of how the town functions from its history, I found this section boring. It stalled the forward momentum of the story.
As I continued to read, I was unable to reinvest in the characters, especially when were were given so much detail of their immature antics as children and teenagers.
Unfortunately, at the 33% mark, I decided to stop reading this book as I was not enjoying the story and found the characters to be incredibly unlikeable.
Should I have tried to push myself to make it half way through the book to see if my opinion changed or my interest was piqued once again? Maybe, but in a world with so many incredible stories to read, I just couldn't force myself to continue with this one.
I don't rate the books that I don't finish, but for the purposes of this review, I am giving this book 1/5 stars.

This “true crime” novel-within-a-novel details the fictional murder of Joni Wilson by her teenage peers through alternating POVs and a combination of Tumblr posts, Real Person Fanfiction, text messages, interviews, and podcast transcripts. Though Joni and co. are not real, a number of real crimes are woven together to inform the book’s plot.

Between the crime itself, the narrator’s questionable reporting and storytelling, and the inherent cringe of internet and fandom culture and the transition from girlhood to teenager, I rubber-necked my way through this book, watching Joni’s eventual murder unfold like a car crash.

I won’t lie: I never felt good while reading Penance. But I think that’s the point - or one of the points - of the story. Why shouldn’t we feel disgusted and disturbed when consuming other people’s tragedies for our own entertainment?

This book is dark and twisty and full of seriously unlikeable characters who do many awful things. While some aspects of the plot felt unnecessarily drawn out, the book’s structure and organization were compelling. I’m looking forward to reading Eliza Clark’s other book, Boy Parts, and seeing how it compares.

Thanks to Harper and NetGalley for the eARC!