The Suicide Plan | Novella Review

The Suicide Plan

Written by: Emma L. Clapperton

Number of Pages: 81

Average Rating: 3.92/5 stars

My Rating: 3/5 stars

Published: May 2017

Read in September 2017

Summary According to Goodreads

Standing up and welcoming everyone to the spiritualist church is something Patrick McLaughlin does most evenings. Most of the faces in the audience are familiar to him, except one. David Hopkirk walks into the West End Spiritualist church in Glasgow and slits his own throat in the middle of a demonstration. But why?

Patrick is then catapulted into a case, which sees the death of a child, a failed court case and a family torn apart. Soon Patrick will have all the pieces of the puzzle but will he be able to fit them together in time?

My Thoughts

I found this short-story to be very captivating, and a great introduction to a series. I love the idea of a novella that allows the reader to decide if they like the characters, the plot, and the writing before diving into a series. 

I love intense novels like this one precedes, as it centres around a man (Patrick) trying to solve the murder of a ten-year-old boy. Some people said it was an accident, some accused the father, but Patrick is able to get the truth from the victim himself! There weren’t any moments that surprised me, it seemed to follow a pretty generic plot line but I don’t read a lot like this so I enjoyed it. 

There isn’t much I can say about it negatively or constructively, because it was so short there was no character development or anything that I usually look for and appreciate. I am going to assume that if I read the full-length novels in this series I will have a better connection to the characters, and a deeper plot line, so I am rating this as a three because I enjoyed it.

Overall, this is worth the read. I didn’t expect to find a new series, but that is what is great about this novella! You can get this short story for free on Kindle, so if you are interested in mystery stories I would recommend it! It hooked me enough that I will be checking out the rest of the series!