Flowers for the Dead by Barbara Copperthwaite
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 17th September 2020
Published: 16th September 2020
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
He sees her. The one. The sunglasses don’t fool anyone, she is clearly upset, her nose and lips swollen from crying. They are two lost souls and he knows his love can help her. After all, she is not the first girl he has followed home…
Adam is the perfect boyfriend. He pays attention, he buys flowers. He knows everything about Laura and looks after her every need. He cooks, he cleans – he even does the dishes without being asked.
But Laura has never met Adam. Still grieving after a devastating car crash that killed her family, she’s forgetful and struggling to pull her life together. She’d be horrified to know the depth of this unsettling fantasy in which she is the star. But there’s no denying the chill she feels every time she finds another elaborate bouquet on her doorstep, or wakes in the night sensing she is not alone.
Adam has been watching her every move, and now it’s time to act. Except, there’s one little detail he’s missed: Laura has been watching him too.
After everything she’s been through, Laura’s ready to fight back and stop being the victim in her own life story. But in Adam’s world, there are no happy endings…
An unputdownable thriller guaranteed to have you sleeping with the light on and questioning everything you think you know about serial-killer thrillers! Perfect for fans of You by Caroline Kepnes, My Lovely Wife by Samantha Dowling and The One by John Marrs.
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Barbara Copperthwaite's chilling thriller FLOWERS FOR THE DEAD.
I first read FLOWERS FOR THE DEAD two years ago and I loved it then. When the new and re-edited edition came up I knew I just had to rad it again. It is the first book I've read by this author (I still haven't read any others yet) and it won't be my last. It's different, it's dark, very twisted, and in some ways quite sad.
Very early on in the book we are introduced to a very young Adam Bourne, beginning in his early childhood some 27 years prior and - in alternating chapters - slowly working up to the present tense where he has become a serial killer. We learn of his horrific childhood at the hands of his mother who sexually abused him, his absent father - both emotionally and often physically - and the constant putdowns from his mother that he is nothing, "a dirty boy". The only person who loved and cared for him was his grandmother Ada, who lived 3 hours away in Birmingham. Ada taught Adam about Floriography - the language of flowers - and together they formed a secret language between them as Adam shared how he was feeling and Ada returned by sending him encouragement - in the form of pressed flowers. He learnt to appreciate every flower and its meaning. It was where he bloomed (sorry, pun intended).
So Adam becomes a hunter, choosing his victims so carefully in the search for true love. He stalks them, watches them, breaking into their homes to watch them as they sleep - comparing the act to that of the more romantic notion of Edward Cullen watching over the sleeping Bella in "Twilight". He sends them flowers, with each one sending a special message that ironically only he can understand - and yet he fails to see that. In his mind, they know he is sending them, that he is watching them, looking after them and protecting them. He even breaks in to make them a freshly cooked meal for when they return from work. He is scarily perverse and somewhat disturbing.
When Adam sees Laura at Covent Garden, he knows she is is the one. In her he believes he has found his soul mate, his one true love - and he sets about the task of "taking care" of her.
Laura is a vulnerable young woman after losing her entire family - mother, father and brother - in a tragic car accident on Guy Fawkes night four years before. Blaming herself entirely as they would not have been there had it not been for her wish to see the fireworks, she is the perfect "victim" for Adam, who sees her as a kindred spirit needing rescuing from her obvious despair. Through Laura's eyes we can feel her terror as she notices things beginning to happen - dishes being done, fridge being restocked, food being bought, money left in her purse, flowers being left - and while at first dismissing them as her unconsciously doing them, she soon realises that there is something more creepy going on. She tries to take her concerns to the local police who simply dismiss her as a bit of a "head case". The stalking makes for an uncomfortable read at times, particularly the things Laura isn't even aware of - like the cameras in her house, spyware on her phone - it is seriously creepy. It is easy to see how such behaviour can escalate, terrifying their victims until they feel completely helpless with nowhere to go and no one to believe them.
Ironically though, Adam doesn't want to scare Laura - or any of his victims. It's the last thing he wants. In his twisted mind, he is trying to look after them, care for them and do all the things a loving boyfriend would do. After all, his gran always told him a woman likes a gentleman who can take care of her and is the strong one to protect her. It is so sad to see that Adam's only reference for love he can call upon is those conversations with his gran and the things she taught him. But sadly, her world was a different one to the one Adam is now an adult in, and times have changed. But even so, Adam's view of love is entwined with aspects of the abuse he received from his mother, resulting in a twisted perspective he genuinely feels is right.
Adam is such a complicated character that I felt such sadness for him and at other times I loathed what he had become. However, having formed no proper attachment in his early years and his only experience with sex was both disgusting and frightening, is it any wonder he grew up into a sick and twisted sociopath? In his mind, his love for these women was such that he was showering them with gifts and love and was looking after them as any man should. He believes he is a saviour.
We also meet Mike Bishop, a detective sergeant with the Colchester Constabulary in Essex, dealing with his own grief of losing his wife to an aneurysm and now having to raise his 7 year old daughter on his own. His friend DCI Simon Phillips has been trying to tempt him to transfer to Reading for a fresh start and whilst visiting, he is drawn into the murder of Julie Clayton found with her lips cut off and surrounded by flowers. Back home in Essex he can't get the image out of his mind and searches for other unsolved murders with the same signature.
When I first read this book two years ago I gave it 5 stars then. And if I could give it more, I would. It is compelling, it is chilling and it is creepy. Told in such a different vein to any other thriller I have come across, FLOWERS FOR THE DEAD gives you a perspective you would never think to consider. The killer's. His backstory, his sad childhood, his pain, his loneliness, his desperation to be loved, his warped sense of love are all on display for the reader to devour. And it gives you pause to consider his role in the bigger picture. I don't know about you, but quite often I found myself silently rooting for Adam that he would evade capture...that is, until Laura. Because we are privy to her world and her pain also. But FLOWERS FOR THE DEAD is a book that is so complex it has you conflicted about how you want it to end.
Told in three separate 'points of view' - Adam's, Laura's and DS Mike Bishop - FLOWERS FOR THE DEAD is an utterly compelling read that will keep you up long into the night.
Perfectly horrific and twisted, if you are a fan of tense, creepy psychological thrillers then this book is a must!
Another solid 5 stars - and counting the first 5 I gave it two years ago, does that now make it 10 stars??
I would like to thank #BarbaraCopperthwaite, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #FlowersForTheDead in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Barbara is the Amazon and USA Today bestselling author of psychological thrillers INVISIBLE, FLOWERS FOR THE DEAD, THE DARKEST LIES, and HER LAST SECRET.
More importantly, she loves cakes, wildlife photography and, last but definitely not least, her two dogs, Scamp and Buddy (who force her to throw tennis balls for them for hours).
Having spent over twenty years as a national newspaper and magazine journalist, Barbara has interviewed the real victims of crime - and also those who have carried those crimes out. She is fascinated by creating realistic, complex characters, and taking them apart before the readers' eyes in order to discover just how much it takes to push a person over a line.
When not writing feverishly, she is often found hiding behind a camera, taking wildlife photographs.
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