Colour me hooked!
I've not read Boy Parts, so I've nothing to compare this extract to in terms of writing style. But on the strength of this extract alone, I 100% want to read the rest of the book. This was compelling and intriguing; I really want to see where it takes us.

i got to read an excerpt from this and it has made me the most impatient person ever i need to read this book SO BAD PLEASE

Non-fiction is not my usual go-to, but when I saw Eliza Clark, I knew I was in for something good.

I was not disappointed. Despite knowing the details of the murder - I remember talking about it in class, I was the victim’s age at the time - I was enraptured from the offset. Clark made old information feel new, and harrowing as ever.

I tend to avoid true crime, I find it unsavoury. Insensitive. But Clark’s commentary reassures me that what follows will be nuanced, and incredibly written at that.

I am very much looking forward to reading it.

Loved this! Penance is so engrossing so far and I am very much looking forward to reading the whole novel!

I read Boy Parts last year, and though it wasn’t a hit for me, I respected Clark’s skillful writing and commitment to the horrific. This extract of Penance is a surprise in subject, but not in tone. Clark’s debut also did not shy from the grisly, gory, and frightening. These elements were my favourite in Boy Parts, and part of the reason I still enjoyed it, despite struggling with the narrative voice and main character. However, I am surprised but the true crime journalistic approach to the story, despite the alluded twist that our narrator cannot be trusted. The hook of our main character having nothing to lose, and all the more to gain from putting together a compelling and sickening story about the murder of Joan Wilson from an unexplored, uniquely suited perspective sounds like the perfect setup for a terrifying, twisty read. I am definitely curious about what Penance has in store, and more than a bit apprehensive - which I think is just how Clark wants us to feel.

Yes! Loved this extract! Very dark and eight up my street. Can't wait to read the full story when it's out!

Exactly the kind of dark, compelling excerpt I would expect from Eliza Clark. I can't resist a true crime pastiche novel, and I cannot WAIT to read Penance in full.

I loved this extract--it's smart, compelling, and visceral. Looking forward to reading the whole book.

I haven't read Boy Parts (yet), so I don't know how this new novel compares to it. But this extract was very promising and compelling indeed! I'm looking forward to the reading the whole book!

I got the chance to read a preview of Penance and it instantly captured me. I’m a big fan of a strong narrator’s voice and although it’s a dark and disturbing start, I can tell it’s going to be right up my street. Looking forward to the publication in July to read the rest!

This was one of the best opening samplers I have read, wasted no time in grabbing my attention and holding it throughout. Even though this was just a short section I could immediately get a feel for the style and the story. It pulls no punches, this was a grim crime indeed but of course I want to know more about Girls A, B and C as well as Joni. Cannot wait for the full story!

I love the narrator’s voice. It’s reminiscent of the narrator in Matt Wesolowski’s Six Stories series which I love. The fictional true crime angle is brilliant and I will definitely be buying Penance when it comes out. Will be looking up Eliza Clark’s other books too

So excited to get into this properly, the premise sounds fantastic and the extract only made me more desperate for the full book!

Consider me super intrigued! I loved Boy Parts and I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy of Penance!

Eliza Clark has a distinct and addictive voice, and since I read her piece in the latest Granta I've been keen to explore more of her work. After reading this excerpt, I eagerly anticipate the full version (and Boy Parts). Thank you to NetGalley for this advance except, given in exchange for an honest review.

Wahhh!! This has got me so excited to read the entire book...hooked straight away and itching to read more....
I think this book is going to be so hugely popular, I love the writing, and the story has tempted me to get this as soon as I can lay my hands on it in full

This extract starts by outlining a very shocking, upsetting and grisly story with an apparently unsympathetic journalist who only wants to revive his career as a true crime writer. I am generally uneasy with true crime, especially when survivors and families are still alive so it would be interesting to see if the book addresses such issues.

At first I thought I would not like a book like this but I do think I would read on after this extract to try to understand what would make these girls do what they did.

it is hard to give a rating on just a short extract but I will go in the middle with a 3.

Award-winning author and fellow northerner Eliza Clark takes no time at all to open the sampler with a bang as the harrowing details of a cruel crime are recalled. Just before dawn on 23 June 2016 in the coastal town of Crow-on-Sea, North Yorkshire, sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson was attacked, doused in petrol and then set alight in one of the brightly coloured chalets that line the beach resort from end to end. The three girls who perpetrated the attack thought she was dead and set the fire to dispose of the body not realizing how hot temperatures must be to effectively melt a human body. But Joan didn't die despite her horrific, life-changing injuries. At least not immediately. She managed to disclose the most important piece of information firstly: the names of those three girls before she passed away a few days later.

Where to begin? The first twenty pages of Penance that were given as an excerpt were more than enough to whet my appetite for the rest of the novel and then some. To make such a large impact in so few pages is quite astonishing to me. The book is written in the style of various accounts of the crime, those involved in it and what exactly had led up to it, from the perspective of those with a connection to the case. Here, our snippet is told from the perspective of a tabloid journalist-tuned-true crime writer with a stagnating career who decides to throw himself into extensively researching in order to write a book on Joan's case. What is to follow is Joan's story as told using several different mediums: relevant blog entries archived from Tumblr written by the victim and perpetrators; correspondence with the perpetrators themselves, their relatives, witnesses and townsfolk.

Written in a visceral, hard-hitting and wholly immersive style, I felt myself instantaneously under Clark's spell and found it compulsively readable from the get-go which is highly unusual; it can often take me a little time to warm up to a new book. Dark and disquieting, I found the narrative propulsive, disturbing and intelligent and didn't want it to end, if I'm honest. Clark is adept at luring you in in a record-breaking timeframe; she then leaves you hankering to know more, to read more, and to continue. For these reasons, I can only give this five stars. Based on what I have read so far, I feel this is going to be an unstoppable, explosive tale with superior-quality writing and a real uniqueness about it. I can only hope a full ARC appears!

An intriguing sample from an author who recently made the influential Granta list

Boy Parts had something of a word of mouth cult following and this latest - which appears to blend Gone Girl type true crime podcasting with post Brexit social commentary looks equally intriguing.

I look forward to the full novel.

I'm pretty sure, after having read an excerpt, that Penance will be one of the buzz books of the fall/winter 23/24.