Oh, how to describe The Revenge of Rita Marsh?
The words powerful, provocative and dark come to true. And I mean this is a positive way.
Our protagonist is Rita Marsh, the owner of a care home and vigilante, seeking revenge on local paedophiles and abusers. Rita is struggling to align her secret activities with her life as a caring individual. Throughout this slow-burn and chilling tale, we learn of Rita's past and the reasons behind her behaviour.
The Revenge of Rita Marsh is not a particulary easy read and I did need to put down the book at times to escape some of the darker elements of the tale. Yet, I had to finish it - the storyline must make for compulsive reader and we are drawn into Rita's world.
While Rita is undoubtedly not innocent in her actions, the skill of Chauvet is evident in the different dimensions that she draws from the character and which allow the reader to feel sympathetic towards Rita.
An intriguing read, and certainly a worthwhile one.

Rita Marsh runs an aged care centre during the day, that was left to her after the demise of her parents. Rita cares about her those she has a responsibility for and tries to make their lives better. However, everyone has a side hustle these days and for Rita well she tracks down, ensnares, and exposes pedophiles. Leading a double life can take its toll, especially when you are engaging with men who want to perform depraved acts. When a takedown goes wrong, Rita rethinks the personal toll, decides to back away and heal. Yet, the school reunion brings back bad memories and accusations of a former teacher, now famous novelist abusing girls at the school pushes Rita back into action. Especially when one of the victims is her best friend and romantic interest, Leila.

The difficulty with the book is that you always feel uncomfortable, never at ease as you read. Don’t be thinking this a cosy read for a rainy Sunday. From the opening pages you are hurled into a world of child sex grooming. We witness firsthand the lengths Rita and her friends will undertake to arrive at this moment where they are about to unmask and shame an alleged pedophile.

Being told from Rita’s point of view, means you are reliant on her telling of the story and suffice to say, she is not overly reliable. As Rita’s observations and interpretations of what is occurring is at times tainted due to her wanting facts to fit into her engineered scenarios. Don’t get me wrong Rita, is a good person, she wants to do the right thing, but you are left questioning is she really? At times you wonder if Rita is no better than those she tries to expose, who manipulate and cajole people into compromising situations. For there are times when Rita appears to be taking the same trajectory, whilst she can argue that it is in the pursuit of justice, it certainly is a very grey area. This is what makes Rita such a hard character to get to know, as she is so multi-faceted, so that as a reader you alternate between loathing and supporting.

The supporting characters, especially that of Javid and Leila are well crafted, each with their own extensive backgrounds and motivations. They also add further complexities to the moral and ethical situations that are posed. The police officer’s motives are also ambiguous in his pursuit of justice and how much harm he is willing to cause to achieve an outcome.

It took me a couple of days to come to page and craft my thoughts, as Chauvet has created a dense, heavily layered story that that explores the darkest recesses of human behaviour. Having a lead character who acts as a vigilante creates several ethical quandaries for the reader to mull over. Chauvet has handled the material well, treating the situations with respect, not casting any judgements and allowing us the reader to form their own views and opinions. It is a bold undertaking to tackle the topics in this book. The Revenge of Rita Marsh will create many a discussion on so many different levels about the administration of justice.

Take a risk, read the book and be prepared to be uncomfortable, confronted but come out the other side with a raft of questions.

Where to start with this. First I should say there are trigger warnings associated with this book. It tells of the story of child grooming gangs and child sexual abuse within the family.
The plot centres around Rita Marsh, a young woman who heads up Raven Justice: a group of three who set up traps to capture paedophiles in the hope of bringing them to justice. By day however she runs a nursing home and attempts to lead a normal life. Things take a drastic change when she meets up with an old friend Leila at a school reunion and before the evening is over realises that her friend may have been a victim of grooming by her school teacher Mr Stellans, Rita's life has already began to spiral out of control due to her double life, but this revelation sets her on a path she can not return from. Her need to bring about justice for Leila forces her to cross the line where she becomes the criminal.
The story develops into predator meets "Misery" as she kidnaps, chains and tortures her old teacher in the hope of obtaining his confession.
As events evolve we find out that Rita herself was a victim of sexual abuse within the family and perhaps sympathise with her and her need to protect others. That said her treatment of Leila was very close to what she was fighting against. It is clear that Rita is damaged with an uncontrollable temper and a tendency to live outside the realms of the law. There were times when you felt more sorry for the abuser.
Overall this is a well executed thriller which is definitely worth a read.
Thank you NetGalley and Nilesha Chauvet for the opportunity to read this.

This book was brilliant! Although this is a story that deals with controversial subjects, it was handled brilliantly. Rita's voice is honest and likeable and I instantly connected with her, although I think it could be triggering for some due to the themes in the book.

I love the duality of Rita's life (trying not to give too much away here), Rita is so complex and intriguing too and I loved her relationship with Leila. This is a multidimensional story with character that leap off the page and I binged it! I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for my early arc.

This is an unusual story about a complex character who has two decidedly different sides to her personality.

Rita Marsh is a conscientious carer to the elderly in the daytime, and a hunter of predators at night. She works alongside a small team of like minded individuals, posing as a young girl online and luring sexual deviants to their comeuppance as a form of vigilante justice.

When an operation goes wrong, the team members disband with bad blood between them, to the satisfaction of the police and mixed feelings from the public.

Unfortunately, when Rita discovers as the result of a school reunion that one of her teachers may be guilty of serial offences towards those to whom there was a duty of care, the siren song of revenge becomes too loud for her to ignore - with disastrous consequences for her mental health and general equilibrium.

This is a story that deals with some controversial topics, but attempts to do so in a reasonably balanced manner. Rita's need for action, as well as her growing instability, are portrayed with honesty as well as a modicum of sympathy. Worth a read, but comes with a trigger warning for some of the content. It gets 3.5 stars.

I loved reading this book and seeing the two sides to Rita Marsh, it definitely poses the questions of if vigilantes are good or not. Great read

Rita Marsh is a complex woman trying to help the most vulnerable people in society. By day she looks after elderly people in the care home her late parents left her,by night she's part of a small team of online predator hunters, posing as a young girl online to ensnare and expose men who prey on children.
When one of these operations goes badly wrong and ends in tragedy Rita's team splits acrimoniously,there's public outrage and pressure from the police who have already aired their disquiet about the the team's tactics.
Mulling her future Rita reluctantly goes to a school reunion and is reminded of rumours of an illicit relationship between her former best friend and a teacher when she hears that another former classmate has reported the same man to the police for historical abuse.
This time it's personal and Rita is determined to make sure the teacher answers for his crimes against her friend.
The Revenge of Rita Marsh is a powerful book that adds a touch of gothic horror to a first class thriller as the strain of events at the care home and the chaos Rita's investigations unleash lead her to become increasingly unhinged.
To call Rita "complicated" is a massive understatement and author Nilesha Chauvet does an outstanding job of bringing such a multi-faceted character to life sympathetically and believably.
There are some delicate subjects forming a big part of the story but it's never exploitative ,it's often a tough read,often very moving but most of all it's very,very good.
An excellent psychological thriller ,and not least an outstanding debut from Nilesa Chauvet.