Suspense | Book Chatter

He’s Gone
By Deb Caletti
(Bantam, Paperback, 9780345534354, May 2013, 352pp.)

The Short of It:

Hands down, the most riveting book I’ve read this year.

The Rest of It:

I don’t know about you, but I love a good book about marriage. Especially if it’s about an imperfect marriage and let me tell you, this marriage is not perfect!

Dani Keller wakes one morning and realizes that her husband Ian is not in bed. It’s Sunday, and Dani’s slight hangover clouds her memory of the night before. As she goes about her normal, everyday activities it doesn’t really occur to her that something is wrong. Not until later in the day when her husband has not returned any of her calls. What she remembers of the party the night before is the small argument they had, but she can’t actually recall him coming through the door. Did he come home with her? Why can’t she remember? As it becomes more and more apparent that Ian is in fact, gone, the police begin to investigate the case, Dani’s family comes for support and Dani herself continues to rake her memory for clues to his whereabouts. What makes the story juicy, is their past and it ALL comes out as Dani wades through the delicate threads of matrimony.

This is a second marriage for both Dani and Ian and it’s clear that there is some emotional baggage that has not been completely unpacked and the reader learns this as Dani’s self-doubt begins to overwhelm her. We learn how their relationship came to be, about the children that Ian left behind, about Dani’s abusive ex-husband and although none of it is fairy tale material, it is fact what makes up a marriage today. Dani’s reflections on marriage in general are not surprising, but the aspect that Caletti focuses on is when a marriage loses its shine; that moment where the honeymoon ends and the marriage begins.

I knew what happened to Ian very early on, and although most will turn those last few pages, smack their head and shout, “I knew it!”, if you’re being honest, you’ll also admit that you really didn’t, because Caletti artfully guides you into more dangerous waters where ANYTHING could have happened and all of it would have been plausible. She’s sneaky that way.

Some have criticized the book saying that there is a lot of telling and not enough showing, but I felt it worked here. If a person goes missing, and you aren’t telling all of the story, at least not all at once, you are going to begin the dreaded internal dialogue with yourself over whether or not you did the right thing. This piecey introspection is what kept me reading. I freakin’ loved it!

The Seattle setting and the supporting characters that Caletti introduces add the necessary back story to make the situation plausible. From the very first page I was riveted and could not put it down. I blew through the first one hundred pages in one sitting and when I closed the book for good, I felt satisfied. You can’t ask for more than that.

Toss it in your bag this summer. You won’t be sorry. It’s that delicious mix of good pacing, flawed characters and doubt. Love it.

Thanks to the publisher and TLC Book Tours, I have a copy to giveaway! Details below.

Deb Caletti

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Source: Review and giveaway copy provided by the publisher via TLC Book Tours.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

This giveaway is for one copy of He’s Gone and is open to the US and Canada. A winner will be chosen randomly by me. The book will come directly from the publisher. Only one entry per person. Giveaway closes on June 16, 2013 (pacific). I will contact the winner for his/her mailing address.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!

Mr. Peanut
By Adam Ross
(Vintage, Paperback, 9780307454904, April 2011, 464pp.)

The Short of It:

Amusingly dark and witty.

The Rest of It:

Mr. Peanut is a story within a couple of other stories. The story that takes place in present day New York, is that of David Pepin’s. David is a computer game designer and his wife Alice teaches troubled children. They’ve got plenty of money but they are unable to have children of their own and they are as unhappy as a couple can be. Unhappy, times ten. She is obese, obsessed with dieting even though David seems to like her fat, and deathly allergic to peanuts. The two are so at odds with each other, that David spends hours fantasizing about her death. Killing her himself, to be more specific. So when Alice ingests peanuts and dies from anaphylactic shock, is it an accident? Did David have something to do with her death?

The second and third story, revolve around the two detectives investigating Alice’s death. One detective, Ward Hastroll, has his own marital issues. His wife Hannah has been bedridden for six months for no apparent reason. When he is not investigating the case, he is home with her, tempting her and trying to lure her out of bed. The other detective is Sam Sheppard who bears the name of a philandering osteopath from the 195o’s that murdered his pregnant wife, Marilyn. Much of the book is spent telling the story of the Sheppard from the 1950’s and at times, I found this story line to be more interesting than David’s, but how it plays out and why it’s even mentioned is totally bizarre to me.

As you can tell, this book is not your typical police procedural. In fact, it was difficult to tell what was going on at any given point in time since David’s profession as a game designer, often leads you to believe that he is fantasizing about something or dreaming up subplots in his head. In addition to the game designing gig, he is also writing a novel so when you read Mr. Peanut, you’re not sure if Ross the author is telling the story, or if David has somehow come to life, hijacked the story and run away with it.

This might seem like a total cluster-F of a story and in a lot of ways, it is but I enjoyed it immensely. It’s entertaining to read about screwed-up people and these folks have issues. Their hatred for one another has no boundaries and you end up not liking any of them, but somehow I was okay with that. Their daily interaction mimics (precisely, I might add) what a long married couple experiences daily. The numerous annoyances that make you bristle practically leap off the page, but most people don’t take it to the next level and fantasize about killing their significant other. Do they? That’s what makes this one so rich.

BUT, and there is a little BUT. If you expect this to be a cut and dry police procedural you are barking up the wrong tree. You won’t find that here. You will find yourself completely absorbed with the problems of one couple, only to be rudely shifted to the problems of a different couple. The jerking back and forth is both welcome and jarring. Almost the entire story is told by the males involved, which gives it a lopsided feel and the investigation is all over the place. From the start, you have little confidence that these two detectives will figure it out and in the end, there are numerous alternate endings that leave the true ending up to the reader.

If you appreciate a unique story, written in a non-traditional way, that may or may not be poking fun at the sanctity of marriage, then you will enjoy this book. When reading it, I didn’t want to stop and when I HAD to stop, all I wanted to do was pick it up again. It’s a book to be read in the moment, without picking it apart to figure out the whys. Just read it.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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