The Comfort of Monsters: NYT Best Crime Novel of the Year

(Paperback)

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Description

In the summer of 1991, teen Dee McBride vanished in the city of Milwaukee. It was the summer the Journal Sentinel dubbed the deadliest . . . in the history of Milwaukee. Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmers heinous crimes dominated the headlines and the disappearance of one girl was easily overlooked. 2019, nearly thirty years later, Dee's sister, Peg, is still haunted by her disappearance. Desperate to find out what happened to her, the family hire a psychic and Peg is plunged back into the past. But Pegs hazy recollections are far from easy to interpret and digging deep into her memory raises terrifying questions. How much trust can we place in our own recollections How often are our memories altered by the very act of speaking them aloud And what does it mean to bear witness in a world where even our own stories about what happened are inherently suspect A heartbreaking page-turner, Willa C. Richards debut novel is the story of a broken family looking for answers in the face of the unknown.

Reviews

A gruesome and gripping game of cherchez la femme... An extraordinary story.

-- Times and Sunday Times Crime Club

Another growing trend in crime fiction this year centered on its relationship to real-life crime This category produced several superior efforts, above all Willa C. Richardss debut, The Comfort of Monsters.

-- New York Times, best crime novels 2021

Keep[s] us focused on the effects of crime on victims, with a fresh, persuasive, prose style.

-- Daily Mail

On its face,TheComfortofMonstersis a riveting page-turner that begs to be read quickly, compulsively. But page by page, this electrifying debut by Willa Richards weaves an increasingly complicated and dark taleofguilt, fury, and the dangerofbuilding stories on that shakiestoffoundations, memory. Every sentence is a delight in this taut and thrilling debut by Willa Richards.

-- Elizabeth Wetmore, author of Valentine

Richards has flipped the usual narrative, centring not on the crime itself but on the loss that ripples from it, on the grief that can't be relieved even with the prospect of so-called closure.

-- The New York Times Book Review

TheComfortofMonstersis shadowed by crime but cares more about consequence it pairs the pulse-quickening pleasuresofa murder mystery with a probing portraitofloss. Willa C. Richardss unflinching debut picks apart a tangled knotofviolence, shame, secrecy, lust and fearsome love. A dark, elegiac examinationofsisterhood that's impossible to forget.

-- Robin Wasserman, author of Girls on Fire

The Comfort of Monsters casts a powerful spell with its sharp, lucid prose and its urgent, irresistible pacing. Underneath this shimmering surface, however, Willa C. Richards has crafted a profound novel of depth, complication and intelligence, exploring the inconstancy of our recollections and revealing the elusiveness of our deepest truths. This debut is both a thrill and a provocation.

-- Jamel Brinkley, National Book Award Finalist and author of A Lucky Man

TheComfortofMonsterscaptivates with a cold case, and becomes an unflinching, unapologetic storyofsexuality, victimhood and the dangerous pullofmemory. Richards exposes the underbellyofgrief, shows the heartbeat shaking that thin skin and leaves you, at novels end, holding something raw, fragile and essentially human. A remarkable debut.

-- Lydia Fitzpatrick, author of Lights All Night Long

The details of Jeffrey Dahmers murder spree transfixed a terrified nation. But this novel takes a more personal look at how the serial killer altered a family.

-- Washington Post

In her fiery debut novel, Willa Richards folds the electrifying zingofcrime fiction into an exceptional studyofcharacter. This book begs us to consider why we blame and otherize victimsofviolent crimes especially when they come from societys margins. Potent, gritty and deeply comprehending,TheComfortofMonstersis written with a clear eye and an aching heart.

-- Amity Gaige, author of Sea Wife

Richardss devastating debut dovetails the story of a young Milwaukee womans 1991 disappearance with the citys legacy of the Jeffrey Dahmer murders... In a glut of dead girl stories and true crime vehicles, Richards pulls of a wrenching and rewarding twist on both.

-- Publishers Weekly

Richards turns tropes of crime fiction on their heads in this gripping, deftly crafted debut novel.

-- Oprah Daily

A wrenching debut... Meticulously researched and atmospheric, this is a perfect pick for book clubs and true crime aficionados.

-- Booklist
The Comfort of Monstersis an intense and artful examination of the relationships between sex, power, violence, and identity, as well as the deeply subjective nature of human memory. Its a bravura performance by Richards that should demand readers attention, not because of the apex of violence that Dahmers crimes represent, but the spectrum of violence experienced by her richly drawn, psychologically complex characters. -- LA Review of Books

Richards combines the most satisfying elements of mysteries, thrillers and literary fiction to create one of the most dynamic pictures of a coming-of-age story cut short by tragedy and a city suffering through the chaos. Its a novel with an electricity in every word that will tempt you to read quicker, but be sure to linger as well. Because, behind the intrigue of the crimes it depicts,The Comfort of Monstersis one of the most nuanced explorations of the ways our communities fail those in most need of protection.

-- Chicago Review of Books

Im always looking for innovative forms for the crime novel and although fiction, it reads like a true crime memoir. Im definitely looking forward to more from this author.

-- Crimepieces

An excellent page-turner.

-- Bella

Dark and complex.

-- Crime Monthly magazine

Moving, original and memorable.

-- Daily Mail

Author Bio

Willa C. Richards is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote Fellow. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she was awarded the Sheila Roberts Prize for best short story twice, the Thomas J. Bontly FacultyFiction Award and the Academy of American Poets Edward Ryan Prize. Herfirst story, Failure to Thrive, was published by The Paris Review lastautumn. The Comfort of Monsters is her debut novel.