Sourcebooks Landmark
Published December 30, 2025
Reviewed by Barbara Fister
Twelve-year-old Miv is having a rough time. Her mother has gone silent, sunk into paralyzing depression, and often leaves home for a “rest,” leaving her aunt to see to things at home while the neighbors whisper. There’s talk of moving away from Yorkshire, which would separate Miv from her best and only friend, Sharon. On top of that, the news is full of murders that the police can’t seem to solve. The Yorkshire Ripper, they are calling him. If the authorities can’t get anywhere, maybe it’s time for Miv to find the culprit by observing her neighbors and making lists of suspicious things they do. Besides, if she brings Sharon into the investigation, they can have an adventure together. Before long, though the Ripper proves elusive, they’re uncovering some unexpected truths about their community.
Miv is a good student, much cleverer than Sharon at school, though it soon becomes clear that Sharon is much better at life. While Miv identifies suspects and makes lists, it is Sharon who is able to talk to grownups in a way that gets them the information they need. Their tight friendship extends to the son of the South Asian grocery owner, a boy who other kids call rude names and ostracize. Another ally is a woman who works at the library, though sometimes she goes to work with bruises on her face. Surely her handsome, charming husband isn’t to blame. Or is he, like the Ripper, a monster hiding in plain sight?
In this debut, told from multiple points of view, the author evokes an unsettled period. Social anxiety about immigration and shuttered mines provides a backdrop to a series of violent crimes, as Yorkshire women grow afraid to walk home alone.
While small mysteries solved in the course of the book, the real subject is the friendship between the insecure Miv and level-headed Sharon who is much less serious about their search for the Ripper but is loyal enough to join in, even as they make risky searches of an abandoned mill and travel to Leeds to a dangerous red light district where several victims were taken. The tone of the story darkens toward the end, but overall it’s a gentle and engaging coming-of-age story that uses the characters’ responses to a notorious series of crimes as a central thread.