Sarah O'Connor

“Do you know what happened to her already? Did you catch it in the papers?…Did you listen to the podcast? Did the hosts make jokes? Do you have a dark sense of humour? Did that make it okay? Or were they sensitive about it? Did they coo in the right places? Did they give you a content warning? Did you skip ahead? Did you see pictures? Did you look for them?” (Clark 6).

In the small seaside town of Crow-on-Sea, sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson has been set on fire by three of her classmates. Journalist and true crime writer Alex Z. Carelli has written Penance, recognized as the definitive book on the crime, taking a gonzo journalist approach to the case. Carelli moved to Crow-on-Sea, spoke to the deceased and culprit’s family members and even met with the killer’s giving an intimate look at a crime that devastated a small community. But surprising information has come out about Carelli, begging the question about how much is true in his true crime novel?

I loved Eliza Clark’s debut Boy Parts so imagine my surprise when I learned not long after reading that that she had another book coming out this year! The premise already intrigued me, written as a true crime novel but an unreliably written one, and that Clark is trying to hold a mirror up to the true crime genre, specifically it’s consumers, and beg them to have a look at themselves. And no surprise, but Clark does this expertly.

Carelli is a truly smarmy individual. Clark does an excellent job with his voice, keeping the tone that of many true crime fiction while making sure to hint at Carelli’s own failings as a person in order to write the book he wants. There’s the manipulation of using his own dead daughter to emotionally get Joanie’s mother to talk to him to even speaking with an Indian teacher in town and telling her she relates to her and the prejudice she faced in Crow-on-the Sea because he’s Italian and has faced similar prejudice. There’s a lot of second-hand embarrassment when it comes to Carelli’s voice but also an indulgent, unashamed pride. Already a cancelled individual, Carelli’s only interest is getting back on top and being recognized as the genius he believes he is which he (briefly) successfully does by playing on the fanbase of the true crime genre.

And this is where Clark excels. While much of Penance is an examination of Joanie’s murder and what lead to the girl’s to killing her, it’s also a look at fandom. A number of the girl’s used Tumblr and the girl’s obsessions, posts, anonymous hate messages, reblogs, etc. are shown and referenced in relation to the rise of true crime and the fandom surrounding it. I used to use Tumblr, the rise of the true crime fandom was after my time but I know about the Dahmer Flower Crown edits, the fandom who is obsessed with Columbine and the shooters. It’s a fascinating and dark reality that exists but fascinating through the lens of fan culture, how instead of obsessing over fictional characters there are people obsessing over real-life killers and not only obsessing but empathizing with them, trying to excuse their actions. Clark does a great job examining the complicated mess that is fan culture and true crime in a way that offers no easy answers for why the community exists or how true empathy can be created for the victims instead of the culprits. The murderers themselves in the books are victims of sexual abuse they deny or can’t face themselves, which doesn’t excuse the crime they themselves committed but does make things messy. Clark challenges readers by making the empathy for the killers an easy thing to occur while Joanie and her death becomes more of a shadowed thing. Joanie becomes more of a ghost, irrelevant even in her own death.

The look at internet culture is probably the strongest thing about Penance. I don’t know if Clark’s a chronically online individual or if she just did her research, but it’s some of the most realistic writing I’ve seen for fandom, including the comments and posts. I especially didn’t expect to relate so heavily to Angelica’s obsession, a musical-theatre geek who’s musical of choice is Cats. The accuracy with just that fandom which I was involved with gave me whiplash (I’m an unashamed Cats the musical, fan I’ll add. But I wouldn’t set anyone on fire)!

Penance is a fantastic book for anyone who likes true crime a little to much and maybe needs a wake up call. Clark is a clever writer, continuously pushing the edges in her work and I can’t wait to read more of it!

Publication: July 4 2023
Publisher: Harper
Pages: 336 (Hardcover)
Source: Library
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Fake True Crime, Mystery, Literary
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤
Summary:

On a beach in a run-down seaside town on the Yorkshire coastline, sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson is set on fire by three other schoolgirls.
Nearly a decade after the horrifying murder, journalist Alec Z. Carelli has written the definitive account of the crime, drawn from hours of interviews with witnesses and family members, painstaking historical research, and most notably, correspondence with the killers themselves. The result is a riveting snapshot of lives rocked by tragedy, and a town left in turmoil.
But how much of the story is true?
Compulsively readable, provocative, and disturbing, Penance is a cleverly nuanced, unflinching exploration of gender, class, and power that raises troubling questions about the media and our obsession with true crime while bringing to light the depraved side of human nature and our darkest proclivities.