These Women

A searing novel set in a rundown area of Los Angeles . . . In an atmosphere of rising menace, Pochoda shows the impact of the unsolved murders on grieving mothers and a new generation of young women who live on the margins. It’s a tough read, written in the language of the streets, but These Women is a stunning achievement that challenges conventional narratives about serial killers.

Roiling with female voices – angry, grieving, usually swearing . . . when the denouement comes it’s truly menacing, and Pochoda’s descriptions of a muddy, neon-soaked LA where it’s always night are as gritty and aggressive as Raymond Chandler’s.

A well-plotted murder mystery and a smart dissection of the way in which society treats women. A haunting read but a quite brilliant one.

Serial killer thrillers normally focus on the perpetrators of these crimes, but this marvellous novel concentrates instead on the victims... Pochoda evokes the lives of a victim, a mother who lost her daughter to the killer, a female cop and a young woman trying to escape the dark alleyways of LA. Each is portrayed with wrenching emotional empathy, drawing the reader in to their uncomfortable worlds and creating a web of fear, grief and loss that is absolutely heartbreaking.

An immersive and immensely powerful novel, challenging and angry, about what happens when women’s voices go unheard.

Ivy Pochoda moves, with great sensitivity, between the perspectives of various women, all marginalised, all ignored . . . intense, brutal and glittering, a call to listen to the voices of the ignored.