Look Closer

Look Closer by David Ellis

This could easily be the most complicated crime novel I’ve ever read and yet I was never confused. A testament to the author’s superior writing craft/skill. The story is in four points of view all of them first person present. This book is another solid five. I was truly amazed at the story and character development that carried me right along. When I put the book down, I found myself thinking about what might happen next. An author can’t ask for more out of a book. I quit counting the number of twists. Which also took me right to the edge of thinking there may have been one too many... but stopped short just in time. Another sign of a brilliant craftsman at work. What makes the story work is the attention to detail without it, the complicated plot would easily fail falling into a mish-mash of olio. There is a thing in writing called MAR, motivation, action, reaction. Something has to be motivated in the proper way or the action and reaction can fall short and or turn into melodrama. The author here walks a very fine line. In order to make such a complicated story work the two protagonists have to step dangerously close to the line without crossing over into being unredeemable characters. It works well here but that line is clearly visible. The motivation for what ultimately happens is thin in places. There is also a huge Point of View cheat which is not uncommon in thrillers and mysteries. When a reader picks up a book there has to be a certain amount of suspension of disbelief. The difficulty in writing one of these is saving up this suspension of disbelief and only using when absolutely necessary. That’s what happens here, the author needed it to facilitate the story so for me it worked very well. Loved it. But I know some readers who might throw the book across the room. Easily a five-star review and this author goes on my hardcover list where I buy the hardcover as soon as it comes out. I highly recommend. David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson and Dave Becket series.

“Look Closer” asks the reader to do precisely that. It starts out as one thing and morphs into something else entirely. And then it does it again.

We begin with Simon, a seemingly not all that ambitious but content enough associate professor of law at a university in Chicago. There is one opening for full professor but two candidates: Simon and another professor whose father is a donor to the school.

Simon is married to Vicky, who works at a shelter for abused women. They have a comfortable if not passionate relationship and it seems as though Simon is not ambitious enough for her.

Then enter Lauren, Simon’s teenaged crush from 19 years before (the story is set in 2022) who has returned to the suburban town where Simon still resides in the house he inherited from his parents.

Ah. Hah. You’ll begin to think this going to be about a small suburban town with secrets to reveal. But no. Simon runs into Lauren by accident, and we quickly see he is still obsessed. It’s noir fiction time? Seems so; it’s told in alternating chapters and times in first-person present by Simon, Vicky, Lauren, Jane (a cop), and some minor characters. Gradually we realize they are all unreliable. Halloween is approaching.

Then a police procedural breaks out as a murder is announced. Here comes Jane. And then here comes the Mcguffin. Simon has a $21 million trust fund. But in order to gain control of it Simon has to remain married until November 3, 2002. And now the novel shifts again, into a “long con” tale. Will you root for the grifters?

I breezed through this in two days flat. Could’ve been one day, but … This is a very twisted tale that involves Lauren, Conrad (though he is quite a superficial character), Vicky, Simon, Christian, Gavin, Jane (the police detective) and her partner, Andy. We have a diary, some text messages, and an event that happened on Halloween, because what better day could there be than the one where you can dress up and no one will recognize you or what you are up to? This book is written in the present-day timeline which includes the investigation and the months leading up to the fateful day. This is a writing style that I tend to like to read. I liked the fact that my head was kind of spinning throughout the telling of this tale, thinking oh it’s … no, maybe not. I did begin to figure out the whodunnit, but not the reason behind it. This is rather a long tale at 448 pages, but I think it had to be so the ending was not rushed and the connections between all the whys could come together cohesively in the end.

Author David Ellis loves his twists and turns. This book starts with a deliberately slow and steady build, a ragged story line with dark characters. The chapters are delivered in first-person and rotate through the cast, all of the pieces have just bits of a connection. It was a tough start, I was looking for someone, something to like. Then, about a third of the way through, the sneaky narrative takes hold. At the halfway point I couldn’t put the book down. The disparate threads circle tighter and tighter and the plot becomes an intricate web that’s so creative and so satisfying. I left the book with a sly smile and a “well done”.