Cheaters, stalkers, killers
In this endless winter, domestic noirs and crime fiction keep me warm. I’ve read an excellent novel in each of these genres.
Lisa Jewell is a gem who has written nearly two dozen domestic noirs. Don’t Let Him In – a sinister title – does not disappoint. If you’re tired of men or if you’re battling misanthropy, rather don’t read this book. It will cause your blood to boil.
The central villain has as many names as he has lives. He’s a serial polygamist who juggles families. He never answers his phone. He disappears for weeks without warning. No one knows anything about his past.
Why do the women put up with him? Because he’s a cunning psychopath who knows exactly what each woman needs – and gives it to her. He’s attractive, charming and romantic and never loses his temper. But there’s always another woman who catches his eye and whom he must win over – usually because all his money-making schemes have failed. He likes beautiful, successful women with luxurious homes and solid bank accounts. Once he’s done with them, their confidence and beauty are shattered, and they’re deep in debt.
The story is told alternately by the women and by the scoundrel himself. It’s deeply unsettling to spend time inside a mind like his: he believes unshakably that he is special and deserves only the best. Other people don’t really exist – they only have meaning when he can use them. He’s also a creep who follows young women on the street at night just because he’s irritated by how confident they look. A deplorable degenerate.
You keep reading to see how he finally gets his comeuppance – with a lump in your throat. And you feel ashamed of your gender, so gullible and wilfully blind.
The title is what his victims imagine they’d tell their younger selves if they could go back in time: Don’t Let Him In.
It’s a book to devour in one sitting, with a pounding heart. It’s disturbing and immensely readable.
Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewel is published by Century and costs R335 at Amazon SA.
I’m saving the best for last. Warning: If you pick up Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson, make sure you have at least an entire night free, because you won’t be able to stop reading. Jackson became well known with her A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series, which also became a TV show.
This crime novel has a unique angle: In the first chapter, Jet is attacked in her home and left for dead. She is struck from behind with a hammer—twice on the back of the head and once on the side. There’s a lot of blood. She survives, but doctors believe there’s a shard of skull on its way to her brain and that she’ll live, at most, one more week. They can operate immediately to try to remove it, but she suffers from a kidney condition, and surgery would be a death sentence. She chooses to live one more week—to solve her own murder. She’s cool-headed, with a dark sense of humour, and repeatedly refers to her killer, since it’s only a matter of time.
As things go, the police aren’t exactly in a hurry and don’t make any real breakthroughs. Jet, racing against time, makes quite a few. The book also has elements of domestic noir—Jet’s family is highly dysfunctional. Her sister, the shining star of the family, drowned in the swimming pool, and nothing Jet does is ever good enough for her mother. Her brother has anger issues. She decides not to spend her last days under their roof.
She moves in with her childhood friend—Billy, the boy next door, who’s always been hopelessly in love with her. He becomes her sidekick in the investigation. With no time to waste, she doesn’t always colour inside the lines. She uncovers a lot—also about her and Billy’s past.
It’s absolutely hypnotic, and you read faster and faster as Jet weakens and the hourglass empties. She constantly has headaches, struggles to focus, later her right arm becomes numb and one of her pupils dilates. Still, she pushes on. Naturally, there’s another attempt on her life, and suddenly everyone seems suspicious. Even Billy.
This ever-optimistic reader kept hoping that the skull shard would somehow dissolve and that Jet—with her sharp tongue and big heart—would survive. You’ll have to read for yourself. One thing I had no doubt about: she was going to solve her own murder.
It’s unbearably suspenseful and I didn’t put it down. On top of that, it’s an unconventional love story. I highly recommend it. I’ll quote Alex Michaelides from the back cover: “Propulsive, unputdownable and unexpectedly heart-wrenching … a masterclass in thriller writing.”
Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson is published by Peguin Random House and costs R299 at Amazon SA.
