My Five Word TL:DR Review: Morally Grey and Darkly Humourous

I must say that I enjoyed Too Old for This much more than I thought I should!  I mean this is a story about a serial killer after all and it feels like you really shouldn’t like the main character, and yet, here I was rooting for her and liking her almost instantly!

Lottie has retired from her days of murdering.  She’s moved and started a new life in a different part of the country.  She has a house that is too big and old age is really catching up with her giving her good and bad days.  But, she’s quite content in her retirement, she plays bingo at the church and has a couple of close friends.  Her son is about to remarry and she has a third grandchild on the way.  Lottie expects to live the rest of her life peacefully and there’s no reason why she shouldn’t until an investigative reporter called Plum arrives unannounced on her doorstep.  Plum plans on dredging Lottie’s past back up for content on her podcast – obviously to showcase how innocent Lottie is – but Lottie has no intention of going through the horrors of infamy again and so it’s back to business.

From here onwards, and although Lottie really shows just how cold and clinical she can be, things really do start to spiral in the most wonderfully chaotic and over the top fashion.

I will say that I haven’t read this author before but on the strength of this I would like to take a look at her backlist for sure.

What I really liked about this.

Well, it’s a conundrum because the author really does suck you into Lottie’s life from the outset and you find yourself, dare I say, rooting for her.  I love the way her backstory unfolds and the way her mind works.  It does make me think to myself be careful who you’re being rude to!  Lottie certainly has a temper and isn’t afraid to act on it.

The writing is great and the humour is absolutely spot on not to mention the tension.  It’s one of those slow build stories where you’re getting more and more hyped up as things begin to descend into chaos.  At first you think Lottie has a handle on everything, and she’s staying in control, then she starts to make mistakes.

Lets have a look at Lottie.  You have to hand it to Downing for coming up with such a compelling character.  She’s intelligent and cunning and I loved her narration.  She’s not above really hamming it up when it comes to hoodwinking others using her age shamelessly and hobbling around but then at other times she really isn’t acting, her age really has become an encumbrance.  One minute she’s figuring out gifts for her grandchildren and looking at retirement homes and the next she’s disposing of bodies and breaking into people’s houses. 

I really enjoyed the almost comedic feel to the story – which the out of control tension feeds into.  It reaches a point where you can’t imagine how things will ever work out and yet the author pulls you on relentlessly in Lottie’s wake.

In conclusion, I had an unexpectedly good time with this story and can’t wait to read more by this author.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4.5 of 5 stars