Joseph Knox has produced something extraordinary. True Crime Story begins with a note from his publisher stating that “they and Mr Knox have mutually agreed to conclude their business dealings and have no plans to undertake any future projects”.
![Books 1469](https://www.bigissue.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/BOOKS_TrueCrimeStory_1469.jpg?w=600)
This immediately throws the reader off balance, and it takes a few pages before you realise it’s all part of the plot. Knox is in fact a character in his own novel, which is told through competing and often conflicting statements by the friends and family of Zoe Nolan, a Manchester student who has vanished without trace.
This post-modern playfulness works because it is embedded in a rich and compelling plot that twists and turns until the final pages. Sometimes risk pays off.
True Crime Story by Joseph Knox is out now (Doubleday, £14.99)