Blacklands

Belinda Bauer

Average Rating 7/10 (1 Review)

Steven Lamb is 12 when he writes his first letter... to a serial killer

Every day after school, whilst his classmates swap football stickers, twelve-year-old Steven digs holes on Exmoor, hoping to find a body. His uncle disappeared aged eleven and is assumed to have fallen victim to the notorious serial killer Arnold Avery - but his body has never been found.

Steven's Nan does not believe her son is dead. She still waits for him to come home, standing bitter guard at the front window while her family fragments around her. Steven is determined to heal the widening cracks between them before it's too late - even if that means presenting his grandmother with the bones of her murdered son.

But when Steven realises this is an impossible task, he crafts a careful letter to Arnold Avery in prison. And there begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game between a desperate child and a bored psychopath...

'Exceptional debut... a new UK crime writer to shout about.'

'With this extraordinarily powerful and provocative debut, Belinda Bauer has shifted the boundaries of what makes a truly gripping, terrifying thriller. Imagine Thomas Harris crossed with Kate Atkinson and you still won't be close... top-notch, absolutely terrifying suspense... right from the start you know you are reading something both new and with real guts.'

Review by Ben Macnair (200525) Rating (7/10)

Review by Ben Macnair
Book Source: Not Known
Rating 7/10
Steven Lamb’s life has been affected by the murder of the uncle he never knew when his uncle was a boy. He was a victim of the notorious multiple child murderer Arnold Avery, and his body was never found. Whilst other children play football, Steven spends his days digging on Exmoor, hoping to piece his family back together.

Desperate for some form of resolution, Steven writes to Arnold Avery asking him where the body is, and what happens after that is the stuff of nightmares.

Avery is an evil man who has no problems doing what he has done. He has no remorse for his action, doesn’t care for his victims, their families, the damage he has caused to the local community. He is in prison, both feared and reviled for what he has done, but when he gets the chance to escape, to live the life he led before, one last time, he takes it.

Blacklands is a study in evil, the banality of it, how ordinary people can do evil things, but it also looks at the closeness of family ties, and life as a 12-year-old, his relationship with his mother, his brother Davey, his mother’s boyfriends, his grandmother, who Steven is wanting to give some closure to.

She waits every day for son Billy to return, hoping that he will, but knowing that he won’t.

Spoiler Alert

The confrontation between Steven and Arnold when it comes is tense, frightening, and believable. The child-killer, and his latest quarry, inviting him into his life. Steven takes him on bravely, but he is saved by the police, who have been trailing Avery since he left, and his grandmother. As Steven recovers from the attack, a new life for the family can begin.

The book is told in luxuriant detail, with Stephen’s life on Exmoor well-drawn, his school, his friendships, his brotherly bond are all seen from his viewpoint, but as the wider world and all of its evils come into his life, we see something of the man that Steven will become, one who knows what the right thing to do is, even if, so often, it comes at such a heavy price.
Ben Macnair (20th May 2025)