Looker by Laura Sims

Reviewed by Kristin

The narrator is never is named, but that does not seem to matter. She describes herself as a youthful middle-aged woman, a non-tenure track college lecturer recently separated from her husband, Nathan. She is the center of this tale.

The other unnamed woman is “the actress”. She lives down the street from the narrator in her perfect house, with her perfect husband, her perfect children, and her perfect face plastered across busses and movie screens alike. The actress has everything that the narrator does not have.

As the narrator’s life continues to spiral downward, she becomes more and more obsessed with the actress. Chance and planned encounters on the street and at the block party escalate the tension as the narrator tries to gain the attention of the actress.

Looker is the debut novel from Laura Sims, who later wrote How Can I Help You, the book that I recently reviewed here. 

The two novels have some things in common—ratcheting tension, women characters caught in some form of obsession, and a big bang at the end. However, the second book’s characters are not just repeats of the narrator and the actress. Sims certainly knows how to write explosive short fiction, and I think we have not seen the last of her.

Looker warning: there are a couple of violent scenes, one of which bothered me far more than the other. It was brief and although it was not just gratuitous violence, I still found it unpleasant and shocking.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

  Please welcome Andrew to our bookblog! We're looking forward to having more reviews from him.

Reviewed by Andrew 

Recently, I read the book Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. This book is about a husband and wife who begin to see different, darker sides of each other through the first several years of their marriage. You are slowly introduced to these characters, learning how they were each raised in different ways and eventually how they meet each other and fall for one another. As you learn about the couple’s past through the wife’s diary, you are thrown into the present where, from the husband’s point of view, the wife has gone missing on their fifth anniversary.  It looks very suspicious and all signs point to the husband as the culprit.

The book’s chapters flip back and forth between the wife’s diary entries, and the husband’s personal narration, with each narrator not giving an entirely full or accurate portrayal of the story.  Instead, each twists the narrative to make the reader support their side of the story.

I greatly enjoyed the back-and-forth of this book, with the author’s writing depicting each of the main characters’ two drastically different points of view. It was difficult to “like” either of the main characters, as they each exhibit horrible qualities in their own different ways. This book has a way of keeping you in suspense, with the wife’s diary dropping subtle hints about how she is afraid of her husband, followed by chapters of the husband’s side of the story as the police begin to question him in his wife’s disappearance.

The one thing I could say about this book that I did not like was the paranoia of wondering how well you really know the people closest to you in your life (which could be said is the entire point of this novel!). The book has a way of its grittiness and doubt seeping its way into your life, the author is so good about conveying the characters’ emotions, it almost makes you feel them yourself. As a recently married man myself, this book was especially terrifying to me. Be sure to have a whimsical happy book to read lined up after this one!

Overall, this suspenseful crime thriller will keep you re-evaluating these main characters well into the story. It is interesting to follow through the couples’ past, learning about how they get to the present of the story, and then following through the investigation of the wife that has gone missing, and wondering whose story to believe. For those of you who enjoy movie adaptations of good books, there is an incredible 2014 movie version of this novel directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network, and Se7en), starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike in the lead roles, and an amazing soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails front man, Trent Reznor.

The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin

 

Reviewed by Christy

            First published in 1959, The Hours Before Dawn tells the story of a young mother named Louise who is struggling with her sleepless infant Michael, not to mention her two older children and all the cooking and cleaning it takes to run a household. Her husband Mark offers no help, only criticisms. With an empty room upstairs, the couple take on a boarder to make some extra money. Miss Vera Brandon, a schoolteacher, seems perfectly respectable but Louise is uneasy around her. Something is…off.

            I stumbled across this title while looking at a list of recommended domestic thrillers. It was republished in 2017 and touted as the “original psychological thriller”. Only one library in our system had it but fortunately, it was the Bristol library! A slim novel, under 200 pages, it does what it needs to do without any extraneous filler. Louise is instantly sympathetic (and who wouldn't be with a husband like that?), but she's also infuriating. She lets everyone walk all over her.  When one neighbor needs a babysitter, she shoves her little one off on a stammering, overworked Louise. Another neighbor literally pounds on their shared wall when little Michael is crying too much. If Mark complains about fried potatoes for lunch I don't think a single person would blame Louise if she dumped his meal into the trash and went and took a hot bath. But no peep from her. I know it was the 1950s but my goodness.

            I did like Louise though; she's much sharper than anyone gives her credit for. Which is why she starts to notice something is fishy with Miss Brandon. Her perceptions are dismissed, of course, as a result of her sleep deprivation and subsequent "nerves".

            Fremlin's writing, particularly her observations about motherhood and marriage, are gently humorous and at times sardonic. It reminded me a lot of Shirley Jackson's domestic fiction, of which I'm a big fan. I found the mystery of what was happening a little surprising and delightfully off the rails. The ending, however, felt rushed and slightly anti-climactic. Like with some of Jackson's works, I believe this is a novel I could re-read several times to savor the writing and pick up anything I may have missed. I recommend giving Ms. Fremlin a shot, and for those looking for more thriller suggestions I recommend the bibliographies at the reference desk!

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

 

 

 Reviewed by Christy

    Evelyn is a renowned and award-winning scientist, known for her groundbreaking work in creating genetically cloned replicas of humans. She's so immersed in her work that, at first, she doesn't even realize her husband Nathan is cheating on her. The betrayal stings even more when she discovers he is having an affair with her clone.

    Nathan, also a scientist, has used Evelyn's own work to create his Perfect Wife. Martine is unlike Evelyn in every way: she's warm, patient, and unquestioning. She also wants to be a mother. Evelyn is utterly blindsided by this turn of events but deals with it the best way she can. By drinking wine and throwing herself even deeper into her work. She certainly has no intention of learning anything about Martine as a person. But then one night Martine calls her in a panic. She needs Evelyn's help. Because Nathan is dead.

    This is probably one of the most intriguing premises I've ever read, and I couldn't wait to dive into this twist on the domestic thriller. I'm normally not a big sci-fi person but this had a small amount which was just enough to add a little spice to one of my favorite genres. Unfortunately, and I really hate to say it, it left me a little underwhelmed.

    There were definitely some good, twisty moments but overall I was a little disappointed. I don't know if it was because I felt like something more should happen or if I just didn't connect much with the characters. And there's certainly something to be said about societal expectations of wives but I felt like that aspect wasn't as fully fleshed out as it could've been. I think the novel as a whole just could've been meatier.

All that to say, it's not a bad book. I didn't hate it. But I never felt any particular way about the characters or a sense of urgency while reading. I don't know that I could recommend this book but I am interested in what others who have read it think of it.