The Evil Friendship

I started reading this book without knowing anything about it. I had previously read and very much enjoyed Vin Packer’s The Twisted Ones which told the story of three disturbed youths and their descents into darkness. I suppose I expected much of the same here, only this time, judging from the cover photo, the “ones” were going to be twisted girls rather than boys. What I didn’t expect was that this is actually a fictionalized account of the same murder depicted in Peter Jackson’s excellent film, Heavenly Creatures. The book hits many of the same beats as the film but Packer packs in a less subtle take on the suspected lesbian relationship. This isn’t surprising since it turns out Vin Packer is the pen name of Marijane Meaker, who, according to Wikipedia, pioneered the genre of lesbian pulp fiction back in 1952.