Since becoming a hit Stars TV series, fans have wanted to know how the book Sweetpea is based on gets to its shocking ending.
Starring Fallout actress Ella Purnell, the Sweetpea series follows closely to C.J. Skuse's hit thriller novel of the same name, telling the story of an unsuspecting young woman who, years after being affected by a crime in her childhood, plans a revenge-fueled murder spree of her own.
The book is the first in a trilogy of Sweetpea novels from Skuse, all following its central hero, Rhiannon, as she descends into a full-blown killer.
Sweetpea Book Summary
Thus far in the Sweatpea series, fans have been introduced to Ella Purnell's Rhiannon and started to dip their toes into the series' dark world.
For a tease of what is to happen in the Starz thriller series, fans can look to the C.J. Skuse book the series is based on, diving into Rhiannon's blood-fueled pastime.
The book opens by introducing readers to Rhiannon and her everyday life. She has a draining legal job she hates, she puts up with her boyfriend Craig, and she goes about her days just like anyone else.
Except, Rhiannon has a secret. Sweetpea's main character has spent weeks, months, and years putting together a personal kill list of people she wants to see taken out of this world.
These offenders could be anyone from the man who made a snide comment to her at the grocery store to someone who may have been impatient with her in traffic. One thing they all seem to have in common though is they have been accused of sexual offences against women and children and gotten away with it.
While it makes sense why anyone would have a vendetta for those who have committed such heinous crimes, it hits particularly close to home for Rhiannon. As a young girl, Rhiannon was the victim of a violent crime where the perpetrator did not serve the level of justice she believed they should have.
This has led the adorable young woman next door to satiate this craving for justice with the blood of those she deems no longer worthy of life.
The reader follows Rhiannon as she goes about striking people from her list, never killing without reason (at least to begin with). That all changes one day, as she kills an innocent taxi driver caught in the crossfire of one of her morose escapades.
The death of this taxi driver signifies a massive moment for Rhiannon as she realizes she has become so desensitized to the act of murder she feels no sympathy for killing an innocent man.
As the story goes on it is revealed to the reader that, part of the reason Rhiannon is so complacent in her relationship with her boyfriend Craig, is because he has been cheating on her for some time. She has known but does nothing about the situation.
Rhiannon has an affair herself with a 19-year-old AJ. who ends up getting her pregnant. It is at this moment in Sweetpea that everything turns.
With Rhiannon now pregnant, her lover insists she gets her boyfriend Craig out of the picture and runs off with him; however, she tells AJ that she and Craig are actually in a pretty good, and are going to try and work things out.
Feeling backed into a corner with nowhere to run, Rhiannon kills AJ, ending the argument between the two and showing her commitment to wanting to stay with Craig.
That plan however is quickly thwarted, as Craig, while on vacation abroad, is arrested for disorderly behavior at a football match.
In getting booked by the local authorities, Craig's DNA mysteriously comes up as a match in all of Rhiannon's murders. This is because, before Rhiannon had chosen she wanted to reconcile with Craig, she had been planting his DNA at the scene of all of her crimes.
Receiving a call from Craig about the situation and the police wanting to visit their home, Rhiannon panics, leaving the bachelorette party she was at, as she comes to the realization that AJ's body is still there lying on the floor.
Rushing home to dispose of the body, Rhiannon contemplates her actions once more, admitting that she loves AJ and does not want to move forward in a life with Craig.
The book comes to a close with a knock on the door ringing out through Rhiannon and Craig's home. The last readers see Rhiannon she is panicked and looking up at the front door having not gotten the chance to do anything with AJ's body.
Sweetpea is now streaming on Starz with new episodes arriving every Friday at 11 p.m. ET.
