Thank You Netgalley & Publishers For Granting My Request To Review This Book.

The Synopsis For This Book Really Drew Me In, As I Knew I Had Never Read A Book Similar To This Before. Having Said That, I Struggled To Keep My Attention On The Story.

“The Colour Of Bee Larkharm’s Murder” Follows Jasper, A Young Boy Who Doesn’t Recognise Faces And Sees The Colours Of Words, Making Him Extremely Unique In His World. Jasper Soon Makes Friends With His Neighbour, Bee Larkharm And The Two Bond Over Their Shared Love Of The Parakeets That Nest In The Tree Between Both Their Home’s. After Various Run Ins With An Unapproving Neighbour, Something Happens To Bee, Leaving Jasper With A Mystery To Solve.

I Wanted To Love This Book But Only Really Enjoyed It From About The 60% Mark. That’s When I Felt The Mystery Side Of The Book Really Started To Come Out. From Then On, I Raced Through The Book To See If My Predictions For The Ending Were Right. I’m Sad To Say When The Colours For Peoples Voices etc Were Described, I Skipped Over Them As I Found They Broke Up The Story In A Way And That’s When My Attention Would Wane. Again, I’m Sad As That’s Was The Point Of The Book - I Just Connected With The Mustery Side More

It took me a little while to get into this book - due to the story being told from Jasper's perspective, there's a lot of synaesthetic descriptions which, at times, felt overwhelming, unnecessary and dragged the plot.. Jasper's POV isn't the easiest to flow with, which I get is kind of the point and certainly got me symphathising with him and his father, but it also meant I wasn't immediately sucked into the story.

About halfway through, though, I was absolutely hooked. There are so many layers to this story, with moral ambiguities and unexpected twists in every chapter - there are no simple characterisations, villains or heroes in this book, and by the end of it I felt emotionally wrung out (in a goody way). There are obviously comparisons to be made with Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, as well as Emma Healey's Elizabeth Is Missing, but they don't detract from the originality or voice of The Colour of Bee Larkham's Murder.

This is a sweet, stark, poignant story with moments of deft humour and humbling revelation.

This book will inevitably be compared to 'Curious Incident', but it is much more than a copycat. The factually correct description of a boy who hears sound as colour is a brilliant; as is the fact that he can't remember faces, even his own father's. The murder mystery (or is it) is beautifully disclosed throughout the book. Inventive, and cleverly written, this is a book people will talk about.

Fair warning: I didn't properly finish this novel, though I was well over halfway when I decided I couldn't manage to complete it so I skipped and skimmed to the end, to find out how things turned out - which suggests I was at least invested enough for that. It's not the story itself which I struggled to get to grips with, but the manner of its telling. I was drawn to the elements of 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime' - the unreliable child narrator was a sympathetic character and the plot had potential to be original and intriguing. However, it was incredibly slow. I was 16% in (Kindle reader!) before I realised we were still on the same day the book started on. It's told in an epistolary style, like a log of daily thoughts and events, and there's only so much I could take of having the same event told and retold multiple times with different perspectives before I simply lost patience. Once I started skipping whole chapters, I would land at a new place to find the story had barely developed and I'd hardly missed anything at all by ploughing onwards with great gaps. There were some moving and eloquently-described moments or scenes, but ultimately, I found it too challenging and wanted to stop playing detective and just be told the outcome. It just felt like I was working too hard when the author needed to do a bit more of the heavy lifting!

Jasper is 13, face-blind and experiences synaesthesia - seeing colours for sounds/words/people. He's also witness to his neighbour's murder but can't explain what he saw to anyone - in a way they understand, at any rate. His father is struggling to look after him, the police are fed up with him ringing 999 and all Jasper cares about - murder aside - are the parakeets that flock to their street.

The first half of the novel is concerned with setting Jasper up as a character - how he thinks, records his day, and how the people around him react. It can feel a bit repetitive after a while, no matter how pretty the colours he describes. You also have a sense that Jasper (rather, the author) is holding something back from the reader and that can feel frustrating.

In the second half the action begins to step up as various plot points fall into place. We find out more about what Bee was really like and those who might seek to cause her harm. The more we know about Jasper the more you can see how the fateful night was for him.

I'm glad I read the story but I could've put it down quite easily early on.

I did not enjoy this book at all. The description sounded right for me a murder mystery and the story of an autistic boy which both were correct,. Jasper is a 13yr old boy who is autistic and suffers from synaestyesia and pronopagnosia as well and this is how he copes with life.
Jasper can not recognise faces but he sees the world in colour and sounds, however I found so much of this repetitive and it became tedious reading as it lost the flow for me. The ending did bring the story together and so gave closure.
I must admire the author Sarah Harris for her different approach on a difficult topic and the amount of research that is evident on reading this story as viewed by Jasper.

I always appreciate it when an author tries something different to set their novel apart in an immensely crowded marketplace, however, this didn't quite work out for me. It's inevitable that it will be compared to Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, one of the books that got me so heavily involved in reading as well as an all-time favourite of mine, but this isn't as compelling and readable as that. Here our main character, Jasper, a severely autistic teenager who also suffers from synaesthesia, strongly suspects his neighbour, Bee, has been murdered. However, the combination of face-blindness and synaesthesia make it difficult to glean information from him during police interviews. Synaesthesia is a neurological condition where the senses join or merge meaning that, in this case, Jasper's brain automatically assigns a colour to anything that may stimulate one or more of his senses.

I really like that the author has used this to weave an original yarn but, if I'm honest, there was a little too much focus on the condition that it at times disrupted the narrative flow and got quite tedious. I feel that the author has carried out a decent amount of research as everything was explained, but as I have no experience with the condition it's difficult to say whether her portrayal of synaesthesia was accurate or not. Kudos for raising awareness of these conditions, but at times it felt as though the balance between fact and fiction was a little off making it feel more like non-fiction and unfortunately one of those deflating times when the concept is sound but the execution poor.

Many thanks to The Borough Press for an ARC.

Original and interesting thriller.

Jasper is autistic, has synesthesia and face-blindness and is our narrator in this thriller about the death of one of the neighbours, Bee of the title. She is a flirtatious blonde who befriends Jasper but whose bad life decisions lead to her death.
Despite the repetitions of our autistic narrator, the plot moves along quite well (a bit slow for me in places) and characters are well- developed. It enjoyable and I learned a lot about Jasper’s individual perceptions.

This book is a journey! How you feel about the characters - especially Bee- is a complicated journey in itself. A fantastic story, brilliantly written, with beautiful characters.

I loved this! It was such a unique take on a murder mystery, with the narrative being told by a thirteen year old who has synthaesia, and doesn't recognise faces. There were loads of twists and reveals in almost every chapter, and I couldn't put it down.

This is about Jasper, an autistic thirteen-year-old who sees colours where we would hear sounds. He also is unable to distinguish betwen faces which causes difficulties - he does not even recognise his own father out of context. When a woman neighbour disappears he interprets events in his own unique way which confuses everyone, but eventually the puzzle is solved. There are obvious parallels with The Curious Incident.. but I found this was not quite so successful. The repetitive descriptions of Jasper's colours got tedious and the hints of what was happening took too long to resolve. The explanation of what happened to Lucas felt like an afterthought. However, I read it with interest and enjoyed the quirky characters.

I loved the voice of Jasper in this book and the way he sees the world is both beautiful and scary. This tells the story of his friendship with his neighbour, Bee Larkham and the way in which he must piece together the events leading to her death, made difficult as he has face blindness and recognises people through the colour of their voice. Jasper is a wonderful character - funny and kind, but also brutally honest and often rude. His voice is what carries this book for me as the plot itself was quite predictable as crime narratives go, but to some extent I don't really think that was a bad thing. What Harris has done really well is create a snapshot into the world of a boy who sees things just a little bit differently and has given us all a brief glimpse of that experience. The prose was accessible and the narrative pacing was good here too. All in all, I thought this was a very accomplished book and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed The Curious Incident.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is a really interesting read. Jaspers ability to see everything as colours and not recognise faces causes him a lot of problems. The police are trying to work out what happened to Jaspers neighbour Bee. Jasper uses his knowledge of colour to try and help them. I was really interested in how Jasper saw the world and how his dad tried to help him cope. Jaspers ability to work out what had happened was a fascinating read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I loved this book. Jasper is such an unreliable witness to the proceedings, you have to keep all his colourful threads in your mind and look for the anomalies, just as he does. I felt that I understood his neurological difference well, and appreciated how hard it must be for anyone who is different in this way. The ending was full of hope for his future, and for his father's too. Excellent read.

This is a unique murder story featuring a boy,Jasper, who is autistic. The author's ability to understand the issues he faces and communicate them so well makes this book special. The importance of colour in his life is a major feature and it is well portrayed. Other characters are well chosen too to complement the main character. This should be an important book for autistic people as well as a hotel d read for us all.

DISTINCTIVE, COLOURFUL AND EDUCATIONAL – A THRILLER WITH A DIFFERENCE:
Narrated from the perspective of a face-blind autistic young boy, the novel literally paints a picture of the world as Jasper perceives it: in technicolour. Jasper views people, actions, vocabulary and material items in a multi-coloured spectrum. Some colours indicate good (blue for example) and others bad. With a child such as Jasper, who is severely autistic, words are interpreted literally. This makes for an amusing narration as conversation is not interpreted by Jasper in the same manner that the conversant intended.
From the start of the novel the reader learns from Jasper that Bee Larkham, a neighbour, has been murdered. The culprit appears to have been Jasper himself with assistance from his father to cover up the dreadful deed. But is Jasper correct? His Dad (and the police) are giving conflicting signals. The novel opens at a slowish pace but soon gathers momentum and I found the pages rapidly flying by as the mystery is clarified for the reader.
Jasper lost his Mum when he was only 9 and his memories of her bring a tenderness and fragility to his personality. Jasper, as is common amongst those on the autistic spectrum, has obsessive interests, one of which is ornithology. A nest of Parakeets is tied in with the narrative and its fortune with that of Bee, a neighbour of Jasper’s.
Awash with every colour you can imagine, and many more on top, the reader is taken on a journey with Jasper as we learn why Jasper is so certain of her death and his culpability with it. But sometimes colours can get mixed and confused and the novel contains a twist in the tale.
This is a truly delightful book, narrated in a fashion where colours are as important as words. The author handles Jasper’s “learning difficulties” in a delicate, deft and knowledgeable manner.
Ever so different and so colourful, this is a truly wonderful book to read.

‘The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder’ might not be a book that’s going to leap off the shelves as a must buy for crime fans, but it’s definitely one that I’d recommend to anyone who likes a good mystery. First and foremost it’s a moving and fascinating novel about autism and synaesthesia (the neurological condition that results in a joining or merging of senses that aren't normally connected), but the whodunnit element is ever present and very skilfully handled.
It tells the story of Jasper, a thirteen year old boy who sees sounds as colours and is unable to distinguish human faces. When one of his neighbours and friends, Bee Larkham, is murdered, Jasper is pulled into the investigation. What follows is a gradual unveiling of what has led up to the crime, as well as a sensitive examination autism and synaesthesia.
Jasper is a great protagonist: sympathetic, fascinating and a convincingly and engagingly unreliable narrator. His unique take on the world means that past events take on different meanings as he replays them, a trait that works perfectly in a mystery novel. On paper his age and condition might make him sound like a victim, but in reality he is anything but. In fact he shares many of the characteristics of great detectives like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot - an obsession with the collection of evidence, a rigidly logical mind and a relentless drive to uncover the truth. There is even a wonderfully Poirot-like “assembling of the evidence” scene towards the end of the book which I thought worked brilliantly.
The tick tock approach of interspersing chapters of present day narrative with flashbacks is a very common one nowadays, but author Sarah J Harris uses it to good effect here. Jasper’s replaying of past events in the light of Bee’s death works on two levels - it progresses the plot and our understanding of the mystery in an engaging way, and it brings the boy hero’s character to life. As the events of recent weeks are laid out, the tension builds brilliantly as the relationship between Bee, Jasper and another boy at his school, Lucas, comes into focus.
This is a book as much about people as it is about plot. Jasper is definitely its heart, but around him are a cast of other characters who are just as believable. His father, Bee, Lucas, the neighbours on the street and the police investigating the case. All come together to create a convincing community that we meet through Jasper’s eyes. Like many great crime novels, in the end the events of the distant past have as much bearing on things as more recent ones. As the plot develops so does our understanding of the characters and their motivations, making for a rich, mature and satisfying mystery.
This is Sarah J Harris’ debut novel for adults and there is a great deal to like about it. It’s readable without always being easy reading, gripping and complex without being overly complicated, and funny and moving in equal measure. Whilst it isn’t a traditional crime novel, ‘The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder’ is a novel with enough mystery to delight crime fans and enough of everything else to please readers who don’t normally enjoy the genre. I enjoyed every page and am keen to see what Harris does next.

This is a very clever book and a compelling read.
Jasper is autistic and lives in a world of colour. He doesn't recognise faces - everyone has their own colour.. Everything has a colour which makes it very difficult when he is the only witness to a murder.
You will need to get into Jaspers mind to see how he sees the world and to solve the murder.

I was drawn to this book due to the synopsis. It’s an interesting premise and it was certainly unique to me. Jasper is a 13-year-old boy with autism and synesthesia, which also causes face blindness. The story is told through Jasper’s colourful world as the mystery surrounding his neighbour Bee Larkham slowly unfolds.

Unfortunately, it didn’t resonate with me as much as it has with everyone else. The descriptions of colours were enjoyable at first, but soon became tedious, as did the way the narrative unfolded. As the story is told through the POV of someone with autism, there’s an added layer on top of the constant confusing narrative — repetitions, obsessions, taking things literally — and the story unfolding slowly due to this.

And that’s what irked me the most: the way the story is told. Parts were annoying, irritating and confusing. It also took me a while to gather that One Person’s Colour was in fact A Dog’s Colour and not their owner’s. During other parts I wasn’t sure who was speaking, and sometimes this seemed to be done intentionally so we truly see the world from Jasper’s POV, but other times it seemed like I’d missed something.

I feel bad for saying it, but it does seem like I didn’t enjoy the book because of Jasper’s conditions and how that affects the narrative. I quite like an unreliable narrator, but I found Jasper to be an unlikable character. Although I can’t say there were many other likeable characters in the book either. I suppose this could be because every other character wasn’t too fleshed out, likely a result of Jasper’s face blindness.

I understand why the author chose to have a main character with autism and synesthesia but I’m unsure about why she chose to tell the story she told. It was a weird one, but I did want to keep reading even though I wasn’t sure I liked it.

The pace picked up towards the end, but I feel like the book could’ve been shortened. I don’t think this is a badly written book or a poorly constructed story, but more so that it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book!

This book is about the life of a thirteen year old autistic boy, Jasper Wishart, who sees the world in his own unique way. He has face blindness and synaesthesia and sees the world in colours. In all honesty the murder mystery, while intriguing in itself and touching on dark themes, is a story used by author Harris to shine a light on autism and how both different and extraordinary and life affirming an understanding of autism can be. One of the reasons I read it was because I love books that are a bit different and I have an understanding of autism myself. I believe author Sarah Harris conducted extensive research and this shows in the writing. It takes a bit of time to get onto Jasper's wavelength and how he sees the world but it's well worth persevering with. One for my favourites list. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for review copy.