| July 1965, and the streets of Queens, New York shimmer in the heatwave. One stifling morning, divorced cocktail waitress Ruth Malone wakes to find her two young children are missing. After a short yet desperate search, the police make a horrifying discovery. Surveying the empty liquor bottles and love letters that litter Ruth's apartment, her perfectly tousled strawberry-blonde hair and provocative clothing, the detectives leap to obvious, convenient conclusions, fuelled by neighbourhood gossip and speculation. Sent to cover the case on his first major assignment -- a lucky break -- rookie tabloid reporter Pete Wonicke at first can't help but make the same assumptions. But the longer he spends watching Ruth, and the more he learns about the darker workings of the police and the press, Pete begins to doubt everything he thought he knew. Ruth Malone is enthralling, challenging, impenetrable -- but surely this doesn't make her a murderer? Haunting, intoxicating and filled with heart-pounding suspense, Little Deaths is an electrifying story about love, morality and obsession, exploring the capacity for good and evil within us all. |
