Title: The Color of Bee Larkham’s Murder
Author: Sarah J. Harris
Publication Date: June 12, 2018
Publisher: Atria
Format: Netgalley eARC

Click For Goodreads Summary

In the tradition of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a captivating mystery about a boy with synesthesia — a condition that causes him to see colors when he hears sounds — who tries to uncover what happened to his beautiful neighbor, and if he was ultimately responsible.

Thirteen-year-old Jasper Wishart lives in a world of dazzling color that no one else can see, least of all his dad. Words, numbers, days of the week, people’s voices—everything has its own unique shade. But recently Jasper has been haunted by a color he doesn’t like or understand: the color of murder.

Convinced he’s done something terrible to his new neighbor, Bee Larkham, Jasper revisits the events of the last few months to paint the story of their relationship from the very beginning. As he struggles to untangle the knot of untrustworthy memories and colors that will lead him to the truth, it seems that there’s someone else out there determined to stop him — at any cost.

 

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I stumbled upon this entirely by accident when on NetGalley after promising myself I wouldn’t request any more books. And then requested it. You know, as you do. Right away, I knew I had to read it.

A protagonist with synesthesia and prosopagnosia (face blindness) sounds like the perfect cocktail for a mystery book. And you know what? It really was. The combination made for a protagonist that was both unique and memorable and super easy to root for.

Sarah J. Harris turns murder mystery on its head by marrying a charming, yet unreliable, narrator with a seemingly solved murder that begins to unravel.

And I loved (almost) every minute of it.

❧ This is, hands down, the best unreliable narrator I’ve ever read. Mostly because it’s unintentional. I mean, poor Jasper’s doing his best.

He’s not trying to be duplicitous or cunning. Actually, I’m pretty sure he couldn’t even if he tried. Simply due to the nature of his character—a combination of synesthesia, face blindness, and autism—Jasper often doesn’t fully understand the world around him.

As the point-of-view character, Jasper tells the story in the best way he knows how, leaving the reader to suss out fact from fiction.

And man, it required lots of attention to details and interpreting things rather than relying solely on what you’re told. There were plenty of times I felt myself getting mad on Jasper’s behalf, because he simply didn’t understand what was happening, but there was more than enough context for the reader to pick up on it. And people suck. That’s all I have to say.

❧ Jasper is a really strong protagonist, and brought a unique perspective to the story.

Jasper doesn’t see the world as some might. Part of that is due to his synesthesia, which gives him the ability to see sound as colors. Which is fascinating.

I’ve actually been obsessed with synesthesia since I first learned about it as a kid, because it seems like such an interesting viewpoint, and Harris didn’t disappoint in the way she played with it. Color was such a big theme in the book, and often, Jasper identified people by their clothes and their color. Both of which can be deceptive.

I actually had a bit of a hard time picturing what it would be like for someone with synesthesia because it’s just sooo different. So I Googled it, and I found this video, which provides a little peek into what it may be like for Jasper.

WARNING: The video has a lot of flashing lights and may induce seizures in some people where that may be a risk.

❧ The mystery was riveting, mostly because it seemed like it was already solved when the book started. But, as I said, Jasper’s world is often deceptive.

I mean, the only witness to Bee Larkham’s murder is Jasper, but his memory’s scattered and unclear, and he’s not sure where all the pieces fit together.

Everything comes into focus little by little, and it’s often required to read between the lines in order to get the entire gist. Nothing is just blatantly explained, and that kept me engaged in the story.

I’m not a big fan of simply being handed everything and not having to work for it. Although, I wouldn’t turn down a million dollars, if someone were to offer, I promise.

❧ The way the book ends? Cue angelic choir!

So, an otherwise pleasant mystery book can be totally ruined for me with a lackluster resolution to the mystery. I mean, that’s the whole point of a mystery book, right?! So not the case here. There are several possible culprits, and each one makes sense right up until that final clue, and then it’s like … oooh.

❧ Jasper is obsessed with parakeets and … wow, there was a lot of bird talk.

Which is great if you love birds. All you ornithologists out there, I see you. This is a book for you! Parakeet it up. But for me? Hard pass. I really couldn’t be less interested in birds if I tried.

Not going to lie, there were several times I considered DNFing this book just because I couldn’t take the bird talk. I understand that it’s a quirk of Jasper’s personality, particularly with his autism and his hyperfocus on the birds, but … I just couldn’t do it. In the end, I opted to just skim or skip those bits.

❧ Confession: I love books that incorporate color. Also confession: I don’t understand what certain shades are supposed to look like.

Which is ALWAYS a problem when reading books where color is a major theme. And yet I love them? Because I’m a bundle of contradictions. I understood why it was a thing, and yet, specific shades always trip me up because I don’t know the difference and I’m sure as heck not going to put my book down to Google that particular color. So it seems we’re at an impasse here.

I lied. I Googled it just for you guys. This is apparently cobalt blue, which is an important color in the story. Along with a bunch of other images of slightly different-looking hues? Glad we cleared that up.

❧ You have to really be in it for the long haul to appreciate this book and be able to make it through the slog.

There are pros and cons to writing neurodivergent characters. Pro: diversity and representation. Yay! Con: Wow, it’s hard to follow and confusing and often repetitive. Yikes. There were plenty of times that the book dragged simply by virtue of who Jasper was. I tended to be more forgiving because that’s sort of the point of the character, but it definitely bogged down in places for me.

❧ The very end was an awful lot of exposition explanation, which was a bit of a letdown, since I already got it, even if Jasper didn’t, and I didn’t need it spelled out to me.

Some of it was a little necessary, but it felt like the overall mystery was summed up with Jasper just reciting Important Facts that his father told him. The problem is, I already knew most of these facts because of details in the previous narrative, so Jasper stating them was a little on-the-nose for me. Having the answers blatantly handed to me in the end sort of cheapened all the work I did through the rest of the novel to see the truth behind Jasper’s narrative.

Have you read any other great books with neurodivergent characters, like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time?