From the blurb:

Katrina Marino is about to become America’s most infamous murder victim. This is Katrina’s story, and the story of her killer. It is also the story of Katrina’s neighbours, those who witnessed her murder and did nothing. Shocking and compassionate, angry and gripping, ACTS OF VIOLENCE is a sprawling, cinematic tour-de-force, a terrifying crime novel unlike any other.

I clicked up the Kindle version of this book back when it was on special offer for 99p. The premise intrigued me, not least as it resonates with the subject of my own WIP which is all about the impact of single violent act. My book is not a crime novel and, despite the trappings of dirty cops and violent crime, I would say that Jahn’s novel isn’t either. It’s more an examination of human nature when faced with a sudden and horrific moment of violence.

Jahn manages his large cast, made up mostly of residents of the apartment block in the courtyard of which the attack at the centre of the action takes place, with ease. The book plays out a little like Rear Window, only with a whole host of people witnessing the crime and reacting to it with urgency, indecision, lethargy and disinterest. It is in the various reactions of the different characters that the real drama of this book plays out. While Jahn sometimes falls into the trap of telling us where he should show, sometimes even after he has gracefully shown us something, Acts of Violence is never less than gripping.