Outsider Daniel Shepherd arrives at Durham University as a Fresher one cold night, and meets, on the train, the beautiful, upper middle class Emily Brabents.
Whilst one strand of the narrative describes Daniel and Emily’s friendship (read ‘obsession’ in Daniel’s case), the other narrative is set in present day, where Emily’s body has been found in the river. DI Erica Martin sets out to find her murderer, uncovering as she does the dark underbelly of the student community: a culture of trolling, sex pictures and struggles to fit in.
Though the plot is pacy and the characters believable, there are aspects that don’t always ring true (the use of Facebook and Twitter for trolling are a key example), and it’s hard not to draw comparisons with the superlative novel Engleby by Sebastian Faulks – but the twist is good.
Though this isn’t the hottest debut, Clark-Platts is certainly an author to look out for.
