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Original poster

The magpies

27 replies

marissab · 07/05/2013 19:54

Oh i'm halfway through this and if anyone's looking for a gripping fast paced read, pick this up. It's quite cheap on kindle store at the mo and well worth a look. It's sooo edge of the seat!

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BreasticlesNTesticles · 07/05/2013 20:30

Ordered thank you!

Original poster
marissab · 07/05/2013 20:36

Mark edwards other thriller novel is also 99 p and has 5 star reviews so i'm gonna go for that as well i think Grin

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BreasticlesNTesticles · 07/05/2013 20:39

In for a penny ... Grin

MrsJohnDeere · 07/05/2013 20:40

I enjoyed it but it gave me nightmares! I woke up screaming out loud one night.

ElectricSoftParade · 07/05/2013 20:43

I really enjoyed The Magpies. Enjoy!

Original poster
marissab · 08/05/2013 19:01

Ooo what a book. Never read a book as quick. Will make an awesome movie.

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SarahAndFuck · 09/05/2013 22:16

I'm just about to start it, glad it's getting good reviews Smile

MimsyBorogroves · 10/05/2013 10:58

I started this yesterday and am willing DS to go to sleep so I can crack on with it.

valiumredhead · 10/05/2013 11:58

I loved it but felt the ending was a bit rushed.

Original poster
marissab · 10/05/2013 13:56

Yeah not to spoil the very end but would like to have seen that 'very' final twist concluded more fully instead of just hinted at. Iyswim Wink

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EnlightenedOwl · 12/05/2013 09:51

The ending seemed odd to me too why do what he did - better to leave all as it were to prove the case.
sorry for being a bit evasive trying not to spoil the ending

SarahAndFuck · 16/05/2013 17:56

I've finished it now and I really enjoyed it, but yes the ending was very odd.

And I found the bits about the friend, Paul, quite confusing too, because his sudden change was never fully explained. Neither was the stuff with the friend from work.

I suppose the end was meant to show how someone can reach breaking point and behave irrationally.

But I would have liked that last twist to reach a more definite resolution as well.

SarahAndFuck · 16/05/2013 18:00

Also, if you enjoyed this book, you might also really like A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth.

It has a similar theme and from a slow revelations you get very wrapped up in the backstory and the unfolding main story, which seems simple at first but gets increasingly creepy and worrying as the story goes on.

cocolepew · 16/05/2013 18:02

I downloaded it because it was cheap glad its good!

valiumredhead · 16/05/2013 22:06

Thanks sarah will look for it :)

WannaBeANinja · 21/05/2013 23:22

I've just finished this book, really enjoyed it yet the end was a bit 'meh' for me
I would have liked them to have stayed together and g had a lovely life as a "up yours" to the meanys :)

Mrsrobertduvall · 28/05/2013 13:33

I've just finished it and like others, thought the ending was a let down.

Original poster
marissab · 29/05/2013 10:02

I think it was so fast paced and gripping that the end was gonna struggle to compete with the main part. Wish they'd caught the other baddy.

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markedwardsauthor · 01/06/2013 20:25

I stumbled across this thread on Google (yes I was Googling myself!) and felt compelled to stop by and say thanks for reading The Magpies and (mostly) enjoying it.

Sorry some people didn't like the ending. I can't really say much without being spoilerish, but I hope that people will understand that Jamie did what he did because he was driven to breaking point. And I deliberately avoided a neat, happy Hollywood ending because I wanted to make it as realistic as possible. To me, the conclusion was inevitable - the only way I could end it.

Once again, thanks for reading it.

Mrsrobertduvall · 02/06/2013 20:34

Thanks for dropping by!
I just felt I wanted to know more about why the protagonists did what they did. And why Paul wasn't cross with them for not being more concerned with his recovery.

markedwardsauthor · 04/06/2013 14:27

Hi Mrsrobertduvall

THIS REPLY CONTAINS SPOILERS!

**

Lucy and Chris were two psychopaths who met and decided to team up in order to do what they enjoyed: tormenting people and ruining their lives. When Jamie looks around their flat at the end he discovers that they have separate rooms, which was meant to convey that their marriage was not real that they lived together solely to carry out their schemes. The book is about the banality of evil; there are many psychopaths and sociopaths living among us but usually in books and films they are vicious, out-of-control serial killers. Lucy and Chris are killers but they mostly take a more subtle approach and get their thrills from the slow torture of their victims.

With Paul, I was trying to hint that he had lost his soul... There are little hints of the supernatural throughout the book which are intended to make the reader wonder what is really going on... But, actually, the crash affected his brain, changing its chemistry and making him more like the Newtons. It's quite common for people to undergo a personality change after a head injury; I was trying to make people think there was a more sinister reason for his behaviour when the reality is quite prosaic. It's the opposite to Rosemary's Baby, where you wonder if Rosemary is imagining everything and being paranoid, but actually her child really is the son of the devil (though Ira Levin ruined it somewhat in the sequel in which it turned out to be a dream!)

I hope that makes sense!

Sallystyle · 04/06/2013 17:35

Can't wait to start this one.

Original poster
marissab · 13/06/2013 14:53

Mark i'm so pleased you dropped by. I loved this book and takes me back to my teens when i raced through scary thrillers like this. I'm now reading Duma Key by SK which is about the after effects of brain injury also. Most gripping book i've read in ages and it'll make an awesome movie. Have recommended to loads of people .Grin

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Original poster
marissab · 13/06/2013 14:54

Sorry your book will make a great movie not Duma KeyBlush

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valiumredhead · 18/06/2013 12:20

Hi Mark :)

I have just recommended your book this morning to two friends that I saw then logged on and saw your post. Spoooooooky Grin