[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"work-reviews-detail-death-of-a-bookseller-hywu":3,"work-reviews-list-death-of-a-bookseller-hywu":109},{"id":4,"slug":5,"title":6,"original_title":7,"description":8,"first_publish_year":9,"original_language":10,"primary_cover_url":11,"cover_3d_url":12,"cover_blurhash":13,"preferred_edition_id":7,"community_rating_avg":7,"community_rating_count":14,"page_count":15,"estimated_reading_minutes":16,"shelves_added_this_week":14,"enrichment_status":17,"community_depth_avg":7,"community_momentum_avg":7,"community_atmosphere_avg":7,"community_craft_avg":7,"community_impact_avg":7,"community_spice_avg":7,"is_non_fiction":18,"is_romance":18,"is_indexable":19,"rating_distribution":7,"authors":20,"genres":27,"characters":48,"places":61,"subjects":68,"series":78,"editions":79,"enrichment":89,"community_distribution":7,"default_edition":105,"faqs":106,"reviews_count":107,"contributions_count":14,"quotes_count":14,"photos_count":14,"created_at":108},"01kr828b41s555y87vkdepjdyf","death-of-a-bookseller-hywu","Death of a Bookseller",null,"Brogan Roach works the shelves at Spines, a struggling chain bookshop in Walthamstow, dresses only in black, and lives for true crime: the podcasts, the case files, the intimate details of famous murders. Solitary and prickly, she has built her identity around a fascination with killers and their victims. Then the shop hires Laura, a warm, beret-wearing poet who finds the true-crime obsession tacky and exploitative, and everything shifts.\n\nWhen Roach discovers that Laura writes about murder victims because her own mother was the last woman killed by a notorious local strangler, she becomes convinced the two of them share a rare, fated bond. Her attempts to get closer curdle into stalking, and the more she pushes, the more Laura recoils. Told in the women's alternating first-person voices, the novel tightens into a queasy, escalating spiral.\n\nAlice Slater's darkly comic debut is a sharp suspense novel about obsession, grief, and the ethics of true-crime culture. It asks who owns a victim's story, and what happens when curiosity mistakes itself for connection.",2023,"en","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.seekquel.app\u002Fstorage\u002Fcovers\u002Feditions\u002F01\u002F01kr828bjnzrmrp46gy7p3e2e0.jpg","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.seekquel.app\u002Fstorage\u002Fcovers\u002Fworks-3d\u002F01\u002F01kr828b41s555y87vkdepjdyf.png?v=f59a77d542","LHBkWLo[8NX~S]ozTDX48hV]#sn9",0,384,436,"complete",false,true,[21],{"id":22,"slug":23,"name":24,"role":25,"bio":26},"01kr828bjhx8htx3dd05k145rv","alice-slater-kvwv","Alice Slater","author","Alice Slater is a writer whose work includes the novel Death of a Bookseller. Her fiction often explores themes of obsession and the darker sides of human connection. She is a distinct voice in contemporary suspense.",[28,32,36,40,44],{"id":29,"name":30,"slug":31,"is_fiction":19},5,"Thriller","thriller",{"id":33,"name":34,"slug":35,"is_fiction":19},6,"Mystery","mystery",{"id":37,"name":38,"slug":39,"is_fiction":19},9,"Literary Fiction","literary-fiction",{"id":41,"name":42,"slug":43,"is_fiction":19},40,"Suspense","suspense",{"id":45,"name":46,"slug":47,"is_fiction":19},41,"Psychological Thriller","psychological-thriller",[49,53,57],{"id":50,"name":51,"description":7,"role":52,"is_spoiler":18},"01kqan5bf2wwrhs5g03c20xfee","Miss Roach","protagonist",{"id":54,"name":55,"description":56,"role":52,"is_spoiler":18},"01kwwtmmgtz86a1srmxqhqw198","Brogan Roach","A prickly bookshop clerk consumed by true crime who fixates on her new colleague.",{"id":58,"name":59,"description":60,"role":52,"is_spoiler":18},"01kjstb5abza7ys9sab0bzcn74","Laura","A warm poet whose mother was a serial killer's victim, and the object of Roach's obsession.",[62,65],{"id":63,"name":64,"description":7,"is_fictional":18,"real_world_location":7},"01kkyt1npzwnspthbsgzt9zd6w","The Bookshop",{"id":66,"name":67,"description":7,"is_fictional":18,"real_world_location":7},"01kwwtmmj2sf3dknf6c6q1wwfj","Walthamstow, London",[69,73,76],{"id":70,"name":71,"type":72},"01kjq7prptkrhh0ysgmt6vrpey","Mystery & Detective","subject",{"id":74,"name":75,"type":72},"01kjq7cgzpvgfzthz60sbhzqw7","Thrillers",{"id":77,"name":42,"type":72},"01kjq6vr2t1g7zgpxzbq9p8f3f",[],[80],{"id":81,"title":6,"edition_name":7,"format":82,"format_label":83,"page_count":15,"audio_duration_minutes":7,"narrator":7,"publish_date":84,"cover_url":11,"cover_blurhash":13,"isbn_13":85,"asin":7,"publisher":86,"language":10,"quality_score":87,"submission_status":88},"01kr828bjnzrmrp46gy7p3e2e0","paperback","Paperback","2023-04-26","9781529385335","Hodder & Stoughton",10,"approved",{"summary":90,"pace":91,"complexity":91,"complexity_score":92,"audience":93,"mood":94,"themes":99,"setting_period":7,"content_warnings":102},"Roach, a solitary bookseller obsessed with true crime, becomes fixated on her colleague Laura, whose mother was murdered by a notorious strangler. Convinced they share a dark bond, Roach's attention curdles into stalking. Told in both women's voices, Alice Slater's darkly funny debut skewers true-crime obsession, grief, and who owns a victim's story.","moderate",4,"adult",[95,96,97,98],"dark","tense","gritty","satirical",[100,101],"multiple-povs","unreliable-narrator",[103,104],"violence","death-of-a-parent",{"id":81,"title":6,"edition_name":7,"format":82,"format_label":83,"page_count":15,"audio_duration_minutes":7,"publish_date":84,"cover_url":11,"cover_blurhash":13,"isbn_13":85,"asin":7,"publisher":86,"language":10},[],2,"2026-05-10T04:27:46.000000Z",{"data":110,"links":134,"meta":135},[111,126],{"id":112,"slug":113,"title":114,"user":115,"work_id":4,"is_draft":18,"verified_reader":18,"featured":18,"body":7,"overall_rating":107,"depth":7,"momentum":7,"atmosphere":7,"craft":7,"impact":7,"spice":7,"spoiler_level":122,"locale":7,"feed_item_key":123,"like_count":14,"comment_count":14,"top_likers":124,"viewer_can_reply":18,"created_at":125,"updated_at":125},"01ktt01d6v1xhetqqrmtgvca0v","review-of-death-of-a-bookseller-by-cassandra-navarro","Review of \"Death of a Bookseller\" by cassandra_navarro",{"id":116,"name":117,"username":118,"avatar_url":119,"is_system":18,"published_reviews_count":120,"books_read_count":121},484,"Cass","pagespawsandpetals","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.seekquel.app\u002Fstorage\u002Favatars\u002F484.webp?v=1781136749",597,603,"none","rv-01ktt01d6v1xhetqqrmtgvca0v",[],"2026-06-11T00:06:45.000000Z",{"id":127,"slug":128,"title":129,"user":7,"work_id":4,"is_draft":18,"verified_reader":18,"featured":18,"body":130,"overall_rating":92,"depth":7,"momentum":7,"atmosphere":7,"craft":7,"impact":7,"spice":7,"spoiler_level":122,"locale":7,"feed_item_key":131,"like_count":14,"comment_count":14,"top_likers":132,"viewer_can_reply":18,"created_at":133,"updated_at":133},"01kr828d6jwc4xp96f6zk7nypa","review-of-death-of-a-bookseller-by-deleted-258","Review of \"Death of a Bookseller\" by deleted_258","“I’ve always had a thing for death. My obsession with true crime started in my teens. There is nothing more shocking or more compelling than those who kill.”\n\nMeet Roach; a true crime junkie who works as a bookseller at a local branch of the bookstore Spines. She loves serial killer stories as much as she drinks the cans of Dark Fruits and when one day Laura, a pretty and charismatic new bookseller to the children section arrived at the branch, Roach recognizes in her an unexpected kindred spirit— Laura and her connection to the infamous serial killer. Roach realizes that she may have come across her very own true crime story, and so an episodic trails of obsession blooms.\n\nDark, ingenious and wickedly tense. I love the alternate perspectives and the first-person narratives. The writing style was addictive to me; both gripping and full of wits, also the mood and tone in its dialogues were always heightened my suspense. I fancy the flaws and contrast in both characters (it seems like their dynamics really go well together), to see how Laura deals with her grief-stricken character and Roach being too tenacious and insane with her stalking character that it gets so nerve-racking and unhinged. \n\nThe secondary characters were fun enough and I truly love the atmospheric bookshop setting with that highlight on retail mess as well those literature talks in between; of poetry, book publishing and genre debates. The progress can be quite slowburn yet it goes so haunting and chilling; a searing twisty ending to me and as much as I like both epilogues, can’t help to still feeling anxious and spooked to that few last paragraphs from Roach. A light plot for a thriller but a recommendation if you want a character-driven suspense that thoroughly explored on one’s behaviour and psychological disorder. Will go with 4 stars to this!\n\nHuge thanks to Pansing Distribution for the gifted review copy!","rv-01kr828d6jwc4xp96f6zk7nypa",[],"2026-05-10T04:27:48.000000Z",{"first":7,"last":7,"prev":7,"next":7},{"path":136,"per_page":137,"next_cursor":7,"prev_cursor":7,"has_more":18},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.seekquel.app\u002Fapi\u002Fworks\u002F01kr828b41s555y87vkdepjdyf\u002Freviews",20]