Blueeyedboy, by Joanne Harris

Joanne Harris has written several excellent books. You probably know some of them – Chocolat, Gentlemen and Players : A Novel or The Girl with No Shadow: A Novel (P.S.), for instance?

Her latest novel, blueeyedboy, is quite a departure. As with some of her other books, it is quite psychological in nature. However, this is a psychological thriller taking place mostly on the internet and in the mind of a young boy; a cyberthriller, in a sense. It is quite difficult – and this is the intention of the author obviously – to know what is real and what is not.

It is likely that the book is about a widow and her three sons – Black, Brown and Blue. Black was the eldest; moody and aggressive. Brown was the middle child, timid and dull. But Blue was his mother’s favorite. And he was a murderer. Perhaps?

The intricate and fascinating story is about a poisonously dysfunctional family, a blind child prodigy, and a serial murderer who is not who he seems. The story is told in a series of web posts, a web journal, written by “badguysrock”. The story makes extensive and very creative use of the internet – with its anonymity, “nicknames”, and at times special style.

Thus there is a cloud of mystery surrounding almost everything in the book. Do things happen the way they are described, or is the writer bluffing, exaggerating or inventing? Who are the characters? Are there really different people behind the nicknames, or is some or most of them the same person? Who is really chatting with whom?

blueeyedboy tells an exciting and strange tale, a story that often forced me to analyze and ponder what I was reading. I am sure other readers will come to different conclusions about the action, the terrors, and what really happened, especially at the end. But therein lies the thrill and the beauty of this book! Go and read it – see what you find? You will probably be scared at times, feel the need to interpret and reconstruct, be engaged, and at the end you will wonder what it is you just read. Definitely worth a read!

Written about blueeyedboy:

‘Delivers an almighty twist in the tale late on…brilliantly atmospheric and at times heartbreaking.’ –The Times

‘An ingenious, gripping read…it terrified the living daylights out of me.’ –Daily Express

‘We all loved Chocolat, and Joanne Harris’ new thriller, which follows the lives of three brothers and their dysfunctional families via a series of web journals, has the same beauty with a modern edge. A dark, intricate tale.’ –Company

‘Brilliantly written, plotted and insightful…beware unreliable narrators along with a huge plot twist at the end.’
–Mirror

Links to books by Joanne Harris at Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Amazon CAN.

Tagged as: book review, cyberthriller, Joanne Harris, psychological thriller