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    Blacklands
    Blacklands
    Blacklands
    Audiobook8 hours

    Blacklands

    Written by Belinda Bauer

    Narrated by John Curless

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Debut author Belinda Bauer crafts an incredibly moving first novel in Blacklands. Twelve-year-old Steven is determined to put an end to his family's misery and find the remains of his uncle, who was believed to be murdered as a child by a local pedophile. Steven spends his days digging for clues around his grandmother's home, but when his search fails to unearth anything new, he reaches out to the only person with answers-the accused murderer now serving life in prison.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 15, 2010
    ISBN9781449836849
    Blacklands
    Author

    Belinda Bauer

    Belinda Bauer grew up in England and South Africa. She has worked as a journalist and screenwriter, and her script The Locker Room earned her the Carl Foreman/Bafta Award for Young British Screenwriters, an award that was presented to her by Sidney Poitier. She was a runner-up in the Rhys Davies Short Story Competition for “Mysterious Ways,” about a girl stranded on a desert island with 30,000 Bibles. Belinda now lives in Wales. Her latest novel, Snap, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. 

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    Reviews for Blacklands

    3.5/5

    344 ratings39 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Synopsis/blurb....
      THE BOY WANTED THE TRUTH. THE KILLER WANTED TO PLAY… Twelve-year-old Steven Lamb digs holes on Exmoor, hoping to find a body. Every day after school and at weekends, while his classmates swap football stickers, Steven digs to lay to rest the ghost of the uncle he never knew, who disappeared aged 11 and is assumed to have fallen victim to the notorious serial killer Arnold Avery.
      Only Steven’s Nan is not convinced her son is dead. She still waits for him to come home, standing bitter guard at the front window while her family fragments around her. Steven is determined to heal the widening cracks between them before it’s too late. And if that means presenting his grandmother with the bones of her murdered son, he’ll do it.
      So the boy takes the next logical step, carefully crafting a letter to Arnold Avery in prison. And there begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game between a desperate child and a bored serial killer…
      I managed to kill two birds with one stone here. Blacklands will probably end up being my one sole female author read this month, but hey one is a bit more than zero isn’t it and Blacklands was also an award winning book, insofar as Bauer bagged the CWA Gold Dagger in 2010 for this impressive debut.
      I think this ticked a lot of boxes for me without actually setting me ablaze. It had an interesting, if slightly unbelievable plot. It had a sympathetic main character who at times I wanted to shout at for his passivity in the face of peer conflict. And who at other times, I wanted to smother with support, love, friendship and comfort in the lack of all the aforementioned being forthcoming from his own family. At times Steven cut a heart-breaking, solitary figure in the face of such indifference from those who should have known better. Bauer made me pause and think about my own relationships and whether I always meet the standards of behaviour, I was so quick to judge others by.
      Steven’s adversary in the book, Arnold Avery was well-drawn. Clever, interesting, organised and skilled but conversely cold, callous, manipulative and murderous, Avery was shown by Bauer to be human, with qualities as well as defects. More real and frightening for this, rather than being sketched and portrayed as a cartoonish bogeyman with just a dark side.
      I was away over the weekend with my better half and still managed to devour the 350 pages in two days, spent sightseeing abroad. A two hour flight helped, as did an afternoon on the beach, albeit some of it spent dozing, but it was testimony to the quality of the prose and the way the plot unfolded quickly that the end seemed to approach in no time at all.
      This was my first taste of the author, but on this showing not my last, although unusually for me there is nothing else of hers on the pile waiting.
      4 stars from 5 and a strong contender for my book of the month. Why only 4? Just a slight suspension of belief over the premise of a 12 year old being able to communicate with a convicted paedophile. No stunning, amazing 5 star reads for me just yet in July, though there’s still a week to go!
      I obtained my copy by swapping another book, on the money saving Readitswapit website a couple of months ago.
    • 5/5
      Great Book. I really enjoyed it.
    • 2/5
      Twelve year old Steven spends his spare time digging on the moors near his home. He is searching for the body of his uncle Billy, who was murdered years before by Arnold Avery, a pedophile convicted of the murders of six other children. Avery has never revealed where he buried Billy's body. Steven thinks that if he can find Billy's body he can "cure" his grandmother's depression and his mother's anger.After a time during which Steven makes no progress, he decides to go straight to the source, and begins a correspondence with Avery in prison to see if he can get Avery to reveal where Billy's body is. Because Avery's mail is censored Steven devises clever ways to pose his questions, and Avery finds clever ways to provide enigmatic answers. Soon, however, Steven's innocent quest turns into a dangerous game of cat and mouse, except that the mouse does not know he is in any danger.The first part of the book is all from Steven's pov, and the second part alternates between Steven's pov and Avery's. The first part really dragged for me, and there was very little suspense. In addition, it read very much like a YA novel. There was a lot about Steven getting bullied at school, trading school lunches with his friend, the teachers not remembering his name, his problems with his Mom, etc. This section really took up way too much of the book. Overall it just did not work for me.2 stars
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this - the premise is dark and I really wasn't sure how it would end.
    • 4/5
      A debut book from this author, Blacklands was a great read. 12 year old Stephen, lives with him mother, nan and brother. They are a family with very little. 18 years before, Stephen's uncle was murdered by a pedophile and his body was never found. Stephens grandmother sits by the window everyday waiting for her son to come home.Stephen wants to be loved by his family, wants to go into the room that belonged to his uncle Billy but cant. He decides to write to the murderer in prison to find the location of his uncles body so that he can dig the body up and be a hero and his grandmother wont sit at the window waiting everyday.From here on the story develops well. I enjoyed all of the characters in this book, young Stephen, his innocent little brother Davey, his mum who is a little miserable and nan who loves him in her own way. His friend Lewis and their relationship is an interesting one but I like it, bossy Lewis vs nice compliant Stephen. The book goes along at a quite pace, easy to read and does grip you. The ending is pretty good too
    • 4/5
      I very dark book about a 12 year old who gets into the mind of a serial child rapist and killer in hopes of finding the body of his Uncle, who disappeared 18 years ago. The author does a fantastic job of expanding vividly the twisted thoughts of the killer. This is a very good chillingly told story.
    • 4/5
      Read this all in one go. Suspenseful crime fiction combined with insightful and though-provoking rendering of the characters, especially of the young protagonist and those around him.
    • 3/5
      "Blacklands" is the first novel by Belinda Bauer and is both a tale of a broken, dysfunctional family and a journey into the mind of a child-murdering serial killer. The story revolves around Steven Lamb, a 12 year old lad from a poor background, whose uncle Billy was a victim of the child killer Arnold Avery. Although Billy disappeared before Steven was born the shadow of his uncle's death has cast a pall over the family – his Nan is bitterly obsessive, standing at the window, day-in, day-out in expectation of Billy's return, while his mother shows only the most basic interest in Steven. Steven begins to develop the idea that he can "mend" his family if he can discover the fate of Billy and he begins digging on nearby Exmoor in the hope of discovering his uncle's bones. When his search proves fruitless he decides to write to Avery in jail in the hope of eliciting some information to assist him in his quest. The depraved Avery sees in the letter a way to wallow in his fantasies and begins a subtly dangerous and ultimately deadly communication with Steven. "Blacklands" is a good read that provides a nice mix of crime, thriller and coming of age drama, some elements of which work better than others. The best element is Steven and his home life, both of which are drawn with subtlety and sensitivity. Steven is a nicely developed character, unpopular and bullied at school, unnoticed by his teachers (possibly due to his smelling of mildew) and ignored if not disliked by his family, but with an active and thoughtful inner life. His motivations for digging on the moor and writing to a notorious killer, in order to break out of his circumstances are cleverly constructed and nicely developed. Arnold Avery also makes for a fascinating, if despicably ugly character, and Bauer does well in her presentation of him. If anything she makes Avery an overly fascinating a character, painting him a bit too much in the intellectually brilliant Hannibal Lecter mode. Some of his actions don't quite ring true and some of the odd coincidences (Avery being shot on the moor for example) are a just bit too pat for comfort. Despite all that "Blacklands" is a gripping read that is uncomfortable at times and highly evocative and atmospheric throughout.
    • 5/5
      This is a dark and disturbing story that I always put off reading due to its subject matter.However, I am so pleased I got round to finally reading it; once I'd begin it I couldn't put it down.It a lovely story about a financially poor family making the best of things, life is tough but the Nan seems never to have got over the loss of her child; taken and murdered by a child serial killer but whose burial sight has never been revealed indeed the murderer has always denied killing the boy. The consequence of this is they can never move on with their lives and Steven seems to have lost out the most.He spends his spare time digging the moors by his home looking for the grave of Uncle Billy to bring his Nan some peace.The story takes a sinister turn when he begins to write to the paedophile in prison to ask him to reveal where he buried Billy.The perspective of a 12 year old boy is beautifully captured and a delight to read; his innocence slowly being compromised is well drawn. The growing threat the killer, even from within his prison cell poses is spine chilling and you want to cry out to save him.There are some grime crime stories around the taking of life involving children few dwell on the motivations of the pervert like this does or has such suspense prior to the next victim.The book never deliberately shocks or deviates from telling the real story at the heart of this crime thriller. The subject matter is not glorified or elevated beyond the fictional account this is recounting but it is troubling nevertheless.The wonderful writing ultimately carries the story and it is a book I am so pleased to have finally read. Furthermore I am pleased to know there are other books by this excellent author to read and enjoy.
    • 2/5
      I liked this book initially but then found it very disturbing when Arnold Avery the killer was describing erections and sodomising and killing the children in the story, the boy Steven was a very good portrayal . this was this authors first novel .
    • 4/5
      Blacklands - what an original and compelling novel this is. Belinda Bauer's story grips from page one, and the frenzied plot about a boy who starts up a correspondence with the man who murdered his child-uncle, makes uncomfortable but compelling reading. Bauer handles the central theme of child abuse and murder without gratuitousness, but nevertheless you feel she has explored it in an original and multidimensional way. There's a visceral feel to her descriptions of relationships, disenfranchised family life and childhood, and I was really impressed by her empathetic tone. This is an author to watch for sure and I'm looking forward to her next book.
      © Koplowitz 2012
    • 4/5
      This debut novel by Belinda Bauer has won this year’s CWA Golden Dagger Award so I was keen to give it a go. Within the first few chapters I found myself getting pulled into the story, and soon found it hard to put it down. I kept setting arbitrary points at which I would stop reading and get on with all the things I should be doing, but as soon as I hit my stop point I found a reason to set a new point and just carry on reading.

      The plot is a carefully crafted one that deals with some potentially difficult topics. A lot of time is focused on Arnold Avery, the child killer and paedophile, and at times reading what he is thinking and plotting does make for uncomfortable reading. I have seen other reviewers draw parallels with the Moors Murders and can see that for some this would be a challenging read. I personally thought the balance was well kept, and a lot of crime thrillers contain content that isn’t suited to all readers’ tastes.

      I thought the characters were well crafted, and the plot was certainly engaging. I will be looking forward to reading what Bauer writes next.

      “Blacklands” is published in paperback by Corgi Books in the UK. Whilst I was provided with a review copy of the book all of the opinions expressed are my own.
    • 4/5
      Twelve year old Stephen Lamb’s fragile family was damaged long before he was born. When he was a similar age to what Stephen is now his mother’s brother Billy was kidnapped and killed by paedophile Arnold Avery 18 years ago, though Billy’s body was never found. Stephen’s grandmother has been waiting at the window for Billy’s return ever since and his mother has lived most of her life with the knowledge that her mother’s favourite child was the one who died. Stephen believes that he might make everything well again if only he can find Billy’s body.

      Blacklands is an astonishingly well-written début. Although others play minor roles in the story, the vast bulk of the action unfolds in alternating chapters from the points of view of Stephen Lamb and Arnold Avery and Bauer manages to be utterly convincing in both voices. Stephen comes alive as a boy so starved for affection that a lone throw-away piece of praise from a teacher who can’t even remember his name is savoured and allowed to influence him beyond all proportion to its meaning. And Arnold Avery soon forms into the kind of disturbed, repugnant person one might assume a paedophile to be but all the more disturbing because of his ability to imitate normality. It is a rare book that can be carried almost entirely by two characters and when one is a child and the other the most heinous kind of murderer it must be near impossible not to stray into melodramatic or macabre territory but Blacklands does neither. The character portraits are understated, intimate and totally compelling.

      The story is actually quite uncomplicated, and probably only fits loosely within a definition of crime fiction, but there is beauty in the simplicity of Stephen’s yearning for a life in which he is, for once, loved. There is ugliness too in the form of Avery’s more sinister quest but it is the details of the two converging journeys that provide a reason to keep reading just a little bit more. Rather than the roller coaster ride of a traditional thriller, Bauer tends to lull readers with the kind of barely perceptible rising tension that allows you to forget you’re in the middle of a dark tale until you can’t help but remember, just like the proverbial frog that doesn’t realise he’s in boiling water until it’s too late to jump out.

      Although its’ subject matter is grim I do highly recommend Blacklands as a novel of genuine psychological insight and suspense. I’m not normally a particular fan of being ‘inside the mind of a killer’ but I found in this instance there was no glorification or provision of prurient details just for the heck of it. I shall definitely be ordering Bauer’s second novel, Darkside, when it is released next January, although I will try to hang on long enough to see if it will once again be recorded in audio format and narrated by Colleen Prendergast who did a superb job with Blacklands.

      My rating 4.5/5
    • 5/5
      As Belinda Bauer tells us in the author's note "Blacklands was never intended to be a crime novel. I thought it was going to be a very small story about a boy and his grandmother".Well is is a crime novel,and a very good one it is too. Exmoor is a wild and desolate place and a few years ago it was the scene of a number of child murders. The killer was found and put away in high-security prison. But the graves of more children were never found.Steven has spend many hours digging on the moor in an attempt to discover the graves,but with no success. He evolves a plan to write to the killer and try to make him tell where there children are to be found. This become a cat and mouse game,but who is cat and who is mouse.
    • 3/5
      Twelve year old Steven is the sort of boy who easily goes unnoticed, expect by those who want to taunt him. Living with his mother, his nan and his much younger brother he spends his spare time on Exmoor digging holes in the search for the remains of his Uncle Billy, abducted and murdered aged eleven. He hopes that finding the remains will end his nan's misery, still waiting for Billy to return after twenty years, and so restore his family's happiness.Getting nowhere in his search, despite the occasional help from his best friend Lewis, he decides on the direct approach, and so launches into a correspondence with Billy's imprisoned murdered. A cryptic correspondence that will eventually lead to a potentially disastrous conclusion.The characters are well drawn, one is drawn to Steven, a typical schoolboy; but Lewis, his rather selfish and sometimes jealous friend is obviously the leader. Nan, bitter, with a face that might crack if she smiled, Steven's mother who is really only happy on the rare occasions she has a man about the house, and the young Davey complete Steven's family.Blacklands is a good story, at times gripping. However there is a lot here that seems is intended simply to drag out the drama, needless repetition of the characters' reasonings, and frequent diversions that have little bearing. To draw the narrative out further there is the inexplicable introduction late in the story of a the sixteen year old army private, we are presented with his short life history, yet he is of little if any consequence in the overall scheme. Steven's schoolboy tormentors, the three hoodies, crop up in the most unlikely places, stretching the limits of credulity. Steven most improbably appears to have just one schoolteacher (although this is clearly not so), embittered and heartless, she fails to take up his cause.I enjoyed Blacklands, but was also irritated at times by its shortcomings, and often tempted to gloss over the less relevant passages. Despite this I found the conclusion positive and heart-warming.
    • 4/5
      This book will not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. It's creepy, really creepy, but in a good way. First off, let me say that normally if you told me about a book that involved a serial killer who is a pedophile, that would be enough for me to say, "I'm out." I do not like to read stories where children are victims - it keeps me up at night; it gets under my skin and makes me sad and angry and leaves me feeling desolate and disturbed. This book is different because it is a psychological thriller. The serial killer has already been arrested and sentenced to life in prison, his victims have been dead for almost twenty years, and there is no gore, no vivid descriptions of the crimes - just an intriguing premise. One of those victims was Billy Peters, and if he had lived he would have been the uncle of our protagonist, twelve year old Steven Lamb. Steven's mom was Billy's older sister, and all these years later the family is still reeling from Billy's loss because his body was never found. Steven's life is far from perfect: he, his little brother, and his mom live with their grandma in the same house that Billy used to live in. His bedroom is still undisturbed, frozen in time. Steven's Nan still waits at the window and watches for a child that will never return. His mom is a struggling single mother who favors the younger brother and lives with the memory that her younger brother was the favored child too. For years Steven has been thinking that if he could just locate Billy's grave, then things could finally move forward and Nan could let Billy rest and stop being haunted by possibility. Steven started by obtaining a map and systematically digging holes across the moor, but now it has been three years and he is seeing the futility of his approach. Maybe there is a better way. That's when Steven decides to write to Arnold Avery, the jailed murderer, and ask where Billy's body is buried. He is good at writing letters - even his teacher said so. And a bored serial killer sees this new opportunity to correspond as a mental sport, a sort of chess game that will relieve his boredom while giving him a chance to relive his crimes. And then Avery discovers that Steven is no mere opponent - he is a child opponent. This book is well written with a fully developed plot, three dimensional characters, and excellent pacing. Like a good Alfred Hitchcock movie, it will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end. At only 221 pages, it's a fast and thrilling ride that does not disappoint. What's really amazing is that it was the author's first novel."Avery did not place any great faith in his own plans. He understood that disappointment was proportionate to the gulf between expectation and realization. He didn't like to hope - didn't even like the word, which implied some sort of helpless kowtowing to the vagaries of fate. He preferred to call what he had "options" and, as his desire to escape grew into a burning need, he took pains to leave no option unexplored."
    • 4/5
      Whilst reading BLACKLANDS by Belinda Bauer it was a bit hard to get your head around the idea that this was a debut novel. it's so assured It wasn't at all surprising to find it had won a CWA Gold Dagger. It's the story of how the very determined, engaging and just a bit naive Steven Lamb decides to sort out the mess in his family.As the blurb puts it:"Dear Mr AveryI am looking for WP. Can you help me?SincerelySL, 111 Barnstaple Road, Shipcott, Somerset.He was only twelve, he reasoned: he couldn't be expected to get stuff like writing to serial killers right first time".Steven has always felt left out as his mother struggles with life and his Nan sits at the window waiting for her son to come home. It's been 20 years since Steven's Uncle Billy, then aged 11, went missing. Most people think he was murdered by notorious child serial killer Arnold Avery and buried somewhere on Exmoor. Steven's been spending all his spare time digging the moor, looking for his uncle's body, but even a 12 year old can work out how futile that is. So of course he writes to the killer. What he doesn't understand is that Avery is still very dangerous and very very bored.BLACKLANDS is cleverly constructed. Using a simple, very straightforward tone, there's a feeling of the young boy in every observation and word. Yet the story itself isn't simple, it's nuanced and layered, with good characterisations and a strong sense of place. It's also an interesting perspective - a crime committed 20 years ago having resonance all those years, and a generation on.
    • 4/5
      Steven Lamb is a twelve year old boy who lives with his mother, brother and grandmother at his grandmother's house. His uncle was killed by a serial killer and a pedophile when he was twelve years old. The serial killer is later caught and is serving time. Steven is convinced that if he finds the undiscovered body of his uncle all his family troubles would disappear. In this persuit he starts digging in the moorlands where the other bodies were discovered. Failing this he write to the serial killer in jail and the story unfolds.This novel revolves around the pet theme of mystery writers now a days that is serial killers. But its still very entertaining.
    • 5/5
      The image of an animal’s skull on the cover promised mystery and death. Add that to a recommendation by Val McDermid and I was quite happy to read Bauer’s debut crime novel.The idea: writing to a serial killerBullied at school, ignored by teachers and overlooked at home, Steven Lamb is not enjoying his childhood. His mum, Lettie, is miserable and his Nan spends all day staring out of the living room window, waiting for his uncle to return home after twenty years spent missing. Uncle Billy is presumed dead, courtesy of local serial killer Arnold Avery. Steven feels sure that producing the bones of his long-dead uncle will somehow make life better; unfortunately, Avery has never even admitted to killing Billy, let alone revealed the location of the body. When digging on the moor reveals nothing but dead cows, Steven tries a new tactic: writing to his uncle’s killer.The result: letters from a child murdererSteven’s innocent earnestness is contrasted with Avery’s sly and manipulative nature in a story which becomes gradually darker. As Steven’s life unfolds in realistic but saddening scenes he becomes an intensely sympathetic character. Simultaneously, Avery becomes a more threatening figure, especially when he realises just who he’s writing to…My thoughts: a gripping storyBauer creates an appealing character in Steven who does not seem to deserve the alternately brutal and passive responses he receives from other characters. I was interested in his plight from the beginning when Bauer reveals him digging doggedly on Exmoor in the pouring rain. After this atmospheric beginning, his life is gradually revealed in a way that accepts his situation without judging. The school bullies are barely individuated and, although Steven seeks to avoid them, they are really just another problem he has to deal with. The inevitable labelling of Billy’s Nan as ‘poor Mrs Peters’ is established early on and feels both horrible and ‘right’ given the small town setting. The bullies are not evil; the town’s whispers are not horrible; both situations just exist and Steven copes as best he can. I felt that he was a very realistic character as a result of this. His grotesque but innocent ambition to heal his family by presenting them with the bones of his uncle’s corpse felt convincing and the whole ‘set up’ of the story felt very natural.Similarly, Avery is quickly established as a deeply unappealing character. His conviction that a would-be victim was responsible for ‘ruining everything’ leads to an act of brutality that he is unmoved by. He does, however, learn to keep his thoughts inside. Bauer builds up evidence of Avery’s cunning so that his later actions seem plausible, even inevitable. I found his character both awful and convincing. What makes the story so frustrating is the desire to warn Steven just what he is dealing with.Although the story focuses primarily on Steven and Avery’s characters, the third person narration means that Steven’s mum and his Nan also become sympathetic figures. Lettie burns with injustice. Gloria simply waits and snipes. The focus on generational suffering is deliberate and acute. ‘Blacklands’ was inspired when Bauer saw the mother of a long-murdered child on TV and considered the impact of this sort of crime on families years after from the event. She was careful not to include specific references to the case that first led her to this topic as she did not wish to cause more distress to the family, or to write about a particular case. Fortunately, I have no personal experience in this area, but the disintegration of a family after such a deeply traumatic experience felt convincing.The plot held together credibly throughout and the ending was dramatic and gave a sense of closure. I like endings where there is a definite sense of closure, so this appealed to me. I felt quite satisfied when I closed the book.One of McDermid’s comments was that this was a very ‘atmospheric’ book and I certainly agree. From the opening pages Exmoor is vividly evoked, as is the sheer violence of the weather Steven frequently faces there. I particularly liked this aspect of the book as I felt that I was able to visualise the places in the story.Killer coincidence?Two aspects of the story have come in for criticism. One relates to an incident to do with the prison and seems unjustified as Bauer is able to recount a real-life incident with notable similarities. I find the other criticism far harder to dislodge. Towards the end of the story, Bauer sets up a completely unnecessary and (in my view) unjustified coincidence involving a minor character in the story. When I first read the relevant passage, I actually didn’t really notice the coincidence: in fact, I was simply a little confused by the abrupt switch in perspective and detailed build-up. I don’t think I actually noticed the coincidence until Bauer mentioned it during an author visit at my local library. It seems daft, then, that such a minor detail would in any way detract from my overall experience of the book…but it has. I feel that plausibility was sacrificed for a neat link and a cheap laugh in what was otherwise a serious crime novel. Bauer’s defence is that coincidences happen all the time in real life, which is true, and yet…it irks me.An adult novel?Something else that was mentioned during the book group session was the intended audience of the novel. When I was reading the book I felt quite strongly that it was a book for teens or YA readers. However, it has been marketed as an adult crime fiction novel. I do not feel that it is a criticism to say that this was a sentiment echoed by a few other members of the audience at the library session. (Many books for YA readers are superb – check out the Carnegie Award for examples.) Interestingly, Bauer herself agreed that she had felt it could be seen as a YA book, but said that her publishers had felt that it was too dark for younger readers. The themes are dark, certainly, but they are handled with a certain naivety and a distinct lack of gore or (as one reviewer put it “torture porn”) and I would be happy to recommend this to YA readers.ConclusionsThis is a chilling read which is atmospheric and gripping. It has sympathetic characters and an interesting central concept. Perhaps the second half of the book is a little predictable, but not in an ‘oh, here we go…’ way at all, more like an ‘OMG I bet that – ’ way. I enjoyed reading it and feel that it is suited to a wide audience as it is psychological horror rather than a gore-fest. One irksome coincidence aside, it was a good read. Normally I’d follow up a conclusion this good by stating that I intend to read the author’s latest books – of which there are two, but, sadly, I hear that they aren’t as good. Bauer has spent much of her career in screenwriting, not especially successfully, so it could be the case that she only has one decent book in her. Then again, she was delightful in person, so maybe I would be inspired to try another book on those grounds!
    • 4/5
      WHAT is this book about?A 12-year-old boy named Steven Lamb lives a sad life in a family that was broken long before he was born. Years ago, his Uncle Billy (age 11) was abducted and murdered by a serial killer. At least that is what everyone thinks happened. Billy’s body has never been found, and the killer never admitted that Billy was one of his victims. Broken by the loss of her beloved son, Steven’s Nan is the only one who never believed that Billy was murdered. She still waits for him every day, looking out the window for hours at a time. This distance and preoccupation with Billy led to the neglect of her other child, Steven’s mother Lettie. Now, Lettie has brought her two young sons, Steven and Davey, to live with her mother. Yet the family dynamics of anger, sadness, emotional distance and instability are so strong that even young Steven can sense it. He feels that if he can just find Billy’s bones, he will be able to fix what is wrong with his family.This is why Steven has spent the last three years digging up Exmoor, the moor that surrounds his home in the small village of Shipcott. Exmoor (known locally as the Blacklands) is where the bodies of other victims were found, and Steven is sure that if he digs long enough, he’ll find his uncle’s bones and bring peace to his family. His obsession with this quest has resulted in an isolated existence—causing tension with his best (and only) friend Lewis. But Steven cannot let go, despite his realization that his quest may well be impossible. One day, Steven has an epiphany. There is one person who knows exactly where his uncle’s body is buried―the person who buried it. So Steven writes a letter to the killer in prison―triggering a dangerous game of cat and mouse between him and the killer.WHO do we meet? Steven Lamb is the young boy who is doggedly trying to fix all that is wrong in his family. I found his courage and determination so touching and sad. He knows that there is something wrong in his family, and he’s trying everything in his power to fix it. This kind of naivete and innocence makes Steven’s sad and lonely life pierce the reader’s heart. For me, the best chapters were those told from Steven’s point of view. Whether he is avoiding the bullies that constantly dog him, trying to please “Uncle Jude” (one of his mother’s boyfriends) so he’ll stay, or attempting to keep his friendship with Lewis on an even keel, Steven is the kind of child that you can just imagine falling through the cracks. When his own teacher can’t quite place him (except as the child who smells like mildew and once wrote a good letter), I just wanted to reach out and give him a big hug. Arnold Avery is the pedophile/serial killer who has been biding his time in prison ever since his capture. Striving to be a model prisoner so he can reduce his sentence and resume hunting children, Avery has made peace with his incarceration. That is, until Steven’s letter arrives and sparks Avery’s imagination. Interested by the possibilities that Steven’s letters conjure up, Avery becomes even more involved and motivated when he discovers that Steven is a young boy. This realization ignites Avery’s long dormant base instincts and motivates him to win this particular game no matter what the cost.WHEN and WHERE does the book take place?The setting of the book is Somerset (located in South West England), with the action taking place primarily on the moors, Steven’s village and Avery’s prison located in Dartmoor (south Devon, England). The setting is the present day, with Avery’s occasionally flashing back to his “glory” days two decades before.WHY should you read this book?For me, the heart and soul of the book is Steven Lamb. He just broke my heart. His struggles to fit in and save his family just ripped at my heart. Every maternal instinct in me wanted to pluck him from the pages of the book and take him home with me. This is a child who is “benignly” neglected and living a secret life that becomes very dangerous without anyone having the faintest idea. Bauer, alternating narrations primarily between Steven and Avery (with occasional forays into the minds of Lettie, Steven’s teacher and Lewis), ratchets up the tension as we learn of Avery’s increasing interest in Steven. Reading the book is very much like watching a horror movie where you know the hero is in big trouble but he continues on, oblivious and clueless to the danger lurking around him. You want to yell “Watch out! Don’t go there!” but, of course, you can’t.Although Steven made the book worth reading, I did struggle with some of Bauer’s decisions. First of all, (and I’m doing my best to avoid spoilers here), there is a wild bit of coincidence in the last part of the book that I found completely distracting and unnecessary. Why Bauer made this particular decision (a bit of “karma is a bitch and can repeat herself in each generation”) is beyond me. I didn’t think the story required it, and it took me right out of the narrative.My other issue was with the Arnold Avery character. Obviously, he is unlikable and horrid. In addition, he is full of himself―fancying himself to be very smart and clever. Although Bauer is giving us Avery’s view of himself, I felt unsure about Avery’s true character. Was he criminal mastermind who just happened to get caught? Is he as clever as he thinks? There are a few indications that Avery is not quite the genius he makes himself out to be, but Bauer’s vagueness on this point led to some frustration on my part. Is he a “Hannibal Lecter” type or more of a “garden variety” pedophile/killer who is ruled by his desires rather than his intellect? It makes a difference, and I started to think Avery was less menacing than he should have been. It began to feel less like a “cat and mouse” game and more like a “slightly smarter rat and mouse” game, if that makes any sense.Still, the book goes by quickly, and you definitely want to find out what is going to happen next. Despite its flaws, I thought it was a decent read and perfect choice for the RIP Challenge. This was Bauer’s first book, and I think she has definite potential. I’d be willing to read her second book, Darkside, which was released earlier this year.
    • 4/5
      Good thriller. Good premise. I think the ending could have been a bit better, but it kept my interest throughout the book.
    • 4/5
      Really quite good, especially for a debuet novel. The author has a decent touch with the characterisation, and isn't too bad at the visual imagery, although the inital sentances don't work quite so well.It's about a young boy, Steven, living in one of the isolated villages down in SW england. Very very scenic, but absolutely nothing to do. His parent just about makes ends meet, but the family ethos has long been destroyed by the loss of his uncle billy, murdered by a paedophile many years ago. Steven's nan has never really got over this, especially as the body was never found. Steven thinks his whole life could be improved if he has a 'proper' family - and so writes to the killer, in jail, asking for him to reveal the body's location. Obviously the killer isn't too keen on this, but can't help responding to a young boy.The characters work very well, Steven as a young boy from a troubled home is instantly belivable, whether its the thoughts of girls, the problems of having a best friend, or just the attention from the equally bored bullies. the only slightly jarring note is that he's apparently been out digging for the best part of three years. That kind of exercise puts real muscles and colour on quite quickly, so he wouldn't be the pale weakling he's described as. The killer arnold is suitably creepy, with the author dong a fine job of imagining the thoughts such a person might have, and his experiences in prison. These chapters intersperse well with those of Steven. There a couple of discordant points when either his mum or his baby brother take central stage, these seem unnecessary, interefere with the flow and empathy, and don't forward the plot very much either. The scenary descriptions are somewhat variable, sometimes it does feel like the author has experienced the open moors and small villages of SW england, but sometimes her descriptions seem a bit off, at least to me, who has visted these moors many times. It's a minor quibble really. The atmosphere engendered, does work very well, whether it's the excuberance of youth, the irritations of a single mum, or the desperation of the conclusion. Well worth a read, and worth seeking out any of the authors other books.
    • 4/5
      This was creepy little book that worked well on audio (from Recorded Books via Net Library). The narrator set an appropriately measured, somber tone, and his voice was a subtle but constant reminder that the setting was on "the other side of the big pond." He especially captured the persona of the serial killer quite chillingly. This is, for the most part, not an action-packed mystery. It moves at a slow, deliberate pace as the tension builds. The author skillfully conveyed the horror of the serial killer's past crimes and fantasies without going into a lot of graphic details.There were a few small aspects of the story that seemed a bit contrived, but on the whole it worked well. I understand that this was a debut novel. It definitely shows promise!
    • 5/5
      Blacklands by Susan Bauer is to put it simply a bloody good read. Extremely atmospheric, this original twist on a serial killer story was simple, straight forward and compelling. Part mystery, part coming-of-age story, part psychological drama, I found this book very addictive.The story centers around Steven Lamb, an eleven year old boy, who lives with his grandmother, mother and younger brother in the village of Shipcott on the edge of Exmoor. Nineteen years ago, his Uncle Billy was taken and murdered by serial killer, pedophile Arnold Avery. Avery buried his victims on Exmoor and a few of the bodies were never recovered. Billy’s was one. Steven’s family life is bleak and he becomes fixated on the idea that if he could recover Billy’s body, his dysfunctional family would come together and be healed. After digging countless holes, he realizes the only way to get the information he needs is to write to the source. This in turn awakens a power and need in the serial killer.The images of Exmoor that the author gives us in this book absolutely resounded in me. Never having been there, I went to Google Earth and placed myself in the area and “drove” all around. A beautiful yet isolated place that I could see a serial killer desecrating all too easily. I should mention that although this is a book about a child killer, the details given are not graphic, nonetheless still manage to chill you to the bone.I highly recommend Blacklands. The action is gradual and builds slowly, you can see where the story is taking you, but the ride is truly arresting, and as the dread rises along with your pulse, you can buckle yourself in for a exciting climax.
    • 4/5
      One of these days I went to the local Vancouver library and saw this book sitting on a shelf. The cover caught my attention.I picked it up and read the summary on the back cover and I decided this was something I had to read. It was a really good decision, because Blacklands is a truly captivating and interesting book. I liked Belinda Bauer's writing style. In her debut novel, Bauer writes with a spare hand and a vivid sense of space. From the first lines we are pulled into Steven Lamb's dreary world. The eerie atmosphere of the moor is described so brilliantly and skillfully that it almost breathes on it's own. I found it really easy to imagine the setting of the story and it definitely made reading it very thrilling. Bauer's sharply observant eye makes Blacklands work very well. The author mentions that when she started writing this novel, she didn't have a criminal novel in mind. Instead she was trying to tell a story of a boy and his grandmother, and their complicated relationship. All the characters in this book are fantastically portrayed, each of them plays a big role. Most importantly, they're all very real, their suffering is something everyone could relate to. Steven’s Nan – Billy’s mother – is forever scarred by the loss of her son (‘underneath she would always be Poor Mrs Peters' [p. 8]), which she refuses to accept. This has translated into a fractured household; Steven’s quest to find Billy is partly an attempt to patch up his family, but also his way of bringing purpose to a life beset by troubles at school as well as home. The story takes on a more sinister turn with the murderer's entrance. I appreciated that Bauer doesn't give any gruesome details on Avery's crimes. She opens enough of a window on to Avery’s mind to make our visits there deeply disturbing, but not so much that we lose sight of the monster he is. I recommend this book to anyone who likes well written thrillers, offering genuine psychological insight and suspense. You won't be disappointed!
    • 3/5
      Both a Booklist Starred Review, and an Amazon book of the Month, Blacklands is Belinda Bauer’s melancholy first novel. Only around 240 pages, the novel tells the story of Steven Lamb whose family had been fractured by the tragic disappearance of his uncle nineteen years ago. Steven is certain the key to repairing his difficult family life is to find his uncle’s body. So he sets out on weekends across the moor digging for graves. Until he has a stroke of genius, why not just ask the serial child killer attributed with committing the crime? And so we are introduced to Arnold Avery, serial killer, convicted of six murders, and accused of three more. And through their correspondence he’s able to relive some of his crimes. The story is told in alternating points of view from Steven, Arnold, Steven’s mom, and even Steven’s best friend, Lewis. Avery’s passages are the hardest to read. Partly because Bauer handles them with undue restraint considering he’s horribly evil. At times it’s hard to tell who the reader should be rooting for which is disturbing. When Steven’s mom, Lettie and his best friend Lewis take their turns at narration, the device doesn’t work and these passages feel forced. Some of the writing is distractingly flowery, and the ending is all sunshine and roses. And while, by that time the ending is a nice break from all the sadness and pain heaped on Steven previously, again it doesn’t fit the dark material on which Bauer had based up until this point based the story.Bauer does keep the tone ominous and moody. The setting is also deftly atmospheric and evocative. The strained relationships between Steven and everyone else reads as genuine. Overall it’s a strong debut novel, but it didn’t live up to the critical lauds it received.
    • 5/5
      A sad, sobering story about how a missing child effects the family left behind, changing the life of generations of the family.
    • 4/5
      Twelve year-old Steven Lamb's family has never recovered from the disappearance of his Uncle Billy almost two decades ago. Billy, who went missing aged eleven, was thought to have been murdered by the serial killer Arnold Avery. However, although six of Avery's other victims were found buried on Exmoor, Billy's body was never found.Steven's grandmother still can't accept that her son is dead and stands at the window every day watching for him coming home. In an attempt to set his Nan's mind at rest and restore some peace to his family by finding out where Billy is buried, Steven decides to write a letter to Arnold Avery in prison - but what he doesn't realise is that by doing so he could be putting his own life in danger.Blacklands is a dark and atmospheric psychological thriller, but due to the subject matter it won't appeal to everyone. Although there's nothing very gory or graphic, the book does takes us right inside the head of Arnold Avery, getting much closer to the mind of a serial killer than I was comfortable with. Of course, this type of thing is supposed to be disturbing and chilling, so I think the author has done a great job of creating a character who is genuinely frightening to read about.Belinda Bauer said in her author's note that this was originally intended to be a story about a boy and his grandmother and not a crime novel at all, which I thought was interesting because the family scenes were the aspect of the book that I really liked, rather than the crime plot. I was impressed with the way Bauer portrayed twelve-year-old Steven's sad, lonely life and showed us the long term effects one tragic incident can have on future generations of a family.I can't say that I 'enjoyed' this book, because how can you really enjoy reading about a child killer? But I did find it very gripping and didn't want to put it down until I was finished. This was an impressive debut novel and although I don't usually read a lot of crime fiction, I'll look forward to reading more of Belinda Bauer's books.
    • 5/5
      I thought this was a really well written story. The Characters very believable and the story quite poignant, in that Steven believes that if he can find his uncles body buried on the moor then things will change at home and he will be able to make things better for his Nan and his Mum.The Character of Avery came across as self absorbed but I imagine a serial killer would appear mentally peculiar!!!I really enjoyed the suspense and the build to the climax of the story, I think it would make a great film.
    • 5/5
      In Steven Lamb's house where he lives with his gran, his mother, his little brother, and a succession of "uncles", there is a room that has been a shrine for nineteen years. It is his Uncle Billy's room. Steven is 12 years old and his Uncle Billy disappeared on a trip to the corner shop when he was just a little younger than Steven. For three years Steven has been digging on the moor behind his house. The authorities had assumed that Billy had been killed by paedophile Arnold Avery, but Billy's body has never been found, while a number of Avery's other victimes were. Avery was charged with six counts of murder, but not Billy's. However Steven is convinced that he will be lifting a burden from his gran if he can find Billy's body.Steven decides to write to Avery, now serving a life sentence in Longmoor prison, to see if he can learn where Billy is buried. When Avery replies to Steven's letter, the game subtly changes.It is not often that the suspense in a book literally gets to me, but BLACKLANDS almost gave me palpitations at the end. I really can't reveal any more, other than to highly recommend this debut novel.