The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Berry

(Hodder & Stoughton, 2021)

Reviewed by John Dodd

How do you kill the same person 22 times?

Usually with a knife it seems…

This starts with a reporter covering the death of an actress at the hands of an obsessive fan, a case that seems unremarkable, until a chance encounter with someone from another universe gives them the power to move between universes. But the first they know of this is when one day they come home and they find out that the person they live with is the same person, but they’re not the same person.

Others who do monitor the different universes make contact, and from there it’s established that this does happen, but there aren’t mechanisms in place to stop the movement from universe to universe. When Felicity, our heroine, finds out what’s happening, she’s new to everything, and she hasn’t developed the same lack of empathy demonstrated by most of those who know the truth. So begins a game of cat and mouse, not just one killer with one target, one killer with many targets.

Continue reading…

Review from BSFA Review 18 - Download your copy here.