Library Limelights 216

Phillip Margolin. The Perfect Alibi. USA: St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 2019.

Our main character is Robin Lockwood in Oregon, successful criminal lawyer and girl wonder at mixed martial arts. She’s working on a number of cases as the novel progresses, some of which come back to plague her. In the courtroom, her adversary is often the vindictive prosecutor no one likes, Rex Kellerman. All-star student Blaine Hastings is convicted of rape, his defence lawyer Doug Armstrong not having a strong enough case to acquit him. Hasting’s victim Randi Stark brings a civil suit against him with Robin. At the end of the trial, Hastings threatens both Armstrong and Robin. Then a second rape victim upsets the system; Hastings is released and disappears.

As if this weren’t enough to spin a story on, Armstrong’s law partner Frank Nylander is killed; so is a lawyer in distant New York with whom Nylander was negotiating a lawsuit for damages. Then the plaintiffs in that lawsuit die in a fire. A pharmaceutical company stood to lose everything if those plaintiffs refused a settlement. But no one in Oregon knows about that yet. Detective Carrie Anders investigates in some of the cases. After Kellerman is sacked for unethical behaviour, he too dies in a fire. Hastings pops up again for revenge on Randi. A lot of people and crimes pack these pages. All told in a choppy, no frills style that keeps moving but lacks character depth.

One-liners:

▪ “Can you get me out of here?” he blurted out. (26)

▪ “The police don’t have the manpower to assign someone to Randi twenty-four hours a day.”

▪ “Rex treats everyone like crap,” Robin said. (204)

Multi-liners:

▪ “She could have had sex with someone else that evening. She was pretty drunk.” (34)

▪ “Leave now and live, or stay here and die. Your choice.” (42)

▪ First that bitch Lockwood, and now this. No one treated him like this and got away with it. Someone was going to pay. (103)

Forgetting:

“There is a rare type of amnesia called disassociation amnesia, which is caused by emotional shock or trauma, such as being the victim of a violent crime.” 

“Can a person who develops dissociative amnesia recover lost memories?” 

“Loss of memory caused by emotional shock is usually brief.” 

“Can I talk to Mr. Armstrong?” 

“Yeah, but I’ll want to be in the room to observe. If I think he’s getting too upset, I’m going to stop the interview.” (174)

Caught:

“Vanessa can argue that you convinced the DNA expert to commit perjury and should be criminally prosecuted for attempted murder since you knew that the jury might sentence Doug to death if it accepted the perjured testimony.” 

“That’s a stretch,” Kellerman said. 

“I agree. I was just trying to play devil’s advocate.” 

“What’s the plan, Les? What are we going to do next?” 

“Your arraignment is at ten. I’m sure Vanessa will alert the press, so be prepared for a circus.” (268)

Cross-country:

“All we know is that Gorski has a private detective agency in New York.” 

“You should call Detective Jacobs in New York and let him know. He can get on it from his end.” 

“Gee, Robin, I never thought of that.” 

Robin blushed. “Sorry.” 

“Why don’t you let us do the detecting? That’s what we’re paid for. You concentrate on putting criminals back on the street so I can stay employed.” 

Robin laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m not after your job.” 

“That’s good to know,” Carrie said as she flashed an answering smile. 

“Have a nice day, Counselor.” (294)

Lisa Jewell. Watching You. USA: Atria/Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2018.

Overcoming my name-ist aversion to any author called Lisa (Liza Markland being an exception), I’m glad I did. The English village of Melville Heights has a few amateur spies watching their neighbours. Young Freddie is chronicling the comings and goings of schoolgirls while Frances Tripp is stalking members of a secret conspiracy apparent existing only in her own head. Freddie’s father Tom Fitzwilliam is principal of the local girls’ school, object of countless crushes; Frances’ daughter Jenna is concerned that her best friend Bess may be involved with him. Joey Mullen ‒ recently married to Alfie; they live with her brother Jack and his wife – is hopelessly attracted to the same teacher. Not so hopelessly, perhaps. Which leaves us to wonder who was stabbed to death on a kitchen floor.

Police interviews with potential witnesses, that give no clue to the identity of the victim, alternate with pre-murder activities in the neighbourhood. Freddie begins to assert himself with his less than affectionate parents, tired of being ignored. Alfie is painting the Fitzwilliam living room walls even as Tom is arranging a tryst with Joey. Freddie and Jenna uncover a newspaper story about a former school of Tom’s, without understanding the significance. All is finally revealed, of course. It’s interesting to see some disorders – schizophrenia, ADD, Asperger’s – touched upon without expository belabouring; the reader should be able to relate to relevant personalities or incidents. A great read, well put together.

One-liners:

▪ He’d had her name tattooed on his ankle two weeks after their first encounter. (16)

▪ He was wearing his robe and he smelled odd, that sugary-yeasty smell of middle-aged man pickled in clammy bedsheets. (60)

▪ “Please, Jen,” she said, holding her hands in hers, “please don’t turn into your mum.” (185)

▪ “I’m ill and you are being vile and I absolutely cannot take it.” (255)

Multi-liners:

▪ “I worry that you think I’m something I’m not. I’m clueless, Alfie. Totally clueless.” (36)

▪ It was as if they could tell, he thought, they could tell she wasn’t ever going to be one of them. She was always going to be trying, never just being. (58)

▪ “It was Dad who said I shouldn’t have a label. You just went along with it.” (253)

▪ “And now she’s started being cruel to him too. She hurt him yesterday.” (267)

Freddie struggles to speak:

He wanted to say something else but he couldn’t find the words. He wanted to ask if she was happy. If she and Dad were OK. If they were always going to stay married. If she was glad she married Dad. If she was glad she’d had Freddie. If the noises he sometimes heard from their room at night were anything to be worried about. (58-9)

Joey at mum’s grave:

“I really thought that getting married and moving back to Bristol was going to be the start of the big new grown-up me. But if anything, I’m regressing. Because that’s the problem, isn’t it, that’s what I’m starting to realize. I’m still me, Mum, wherever I go in the world, I’m still just me. Joey the fuckup. Joey the pain. And I wish you were here because I know that was always enough for you. And I’m not sure it’s enough for anyone else.” (69)

On the school trip:

Jenna glanced at her friend. “Don’t you think it’s a bit strange?” she said. “Him doing that?” 

“Doing what? Talking to me? Why’s that strange?” 

“I dunno. He’s, like, fifty; you’re fifteen. It was bedtime. He should have just brought you straight back. It’s fucking weird.” 

“Are you a bit jealous by any chance, Jenna Tripp?” 

“Fuck off!” Jenna picked up a cushion and shoved it at Bess. Bess laughed and bashed it back toward her. (95)

Jenna’s mum Frances:

Her mother genuinely believed she was being persecuted by a huge network of strangers, and that Mr. Fitzwilliam was the puppet master. She believed that strangers came into their home while they slept and rearranged things and stole things and damaged things, just to mess with their heads. Her mother believed that her persecutors saw it as a kind of perverse hobby, a huge, boundless real-life game that ate into their own time and finances. (131)

Haylen Beck. Lost You. USA: Crown/Random House, 2019.

Losing your three-year-old child in an expansive high-rise resort hotel would scare the bejeezus out of anyone. Libby Reese is no exception, yet she’s oddly reticent with the police once they establish it’s actually an abduction. It’s not a psycho ex-husband she’s hiding from the cops, not an evil twin, but the biological mother. The kidnapping scare, involving the entire hotel, is merely an introduction to surrogate babies. Well, I had my doubts when I picked up this book, a missing child being enough anguish. What follows is an examination of the surrogacy ‘industry’ from the perspectives of both baby carrier (Anna) and hopeful waiting parent (Libby). I knew by this time I really didn’t care to learn about it, but having started, one must plow on.

A few years before the hotel occurrence, volunteer Anna had agreed to and signed the contract for an impressive amount of money; for nine months she had to deal with the stern Mr Kovak and distant Dr Sherman, with plenty of clinic care. Libby had to deal with the ambivalence of her husband Mason, the sperm donor. Things finally took a turn for the better, in my perspective, when Anna ultimately balked. Two madwomen. That’s what they become. And the author makes the most of a twisted and scary outcome.

Libby:

▪ He stood inside the open elevator, oblivious to her, laughing as he pressed buttons and made them light up. (14)

▪ She won’t know who we are, and we won’t know who she is. (123)

▪ “It’s real,” Libby said. “This is happening. You have to understand that. Either accept it or go.” (141)

▪ “Just what we always wanted, Libby. I told you, didn’t I? I said it was for the best, right?”

Anna:

▪ “Finish tonight’s shift. I’ll match whatever you get in tips out of my pocket, all right?” (82)

▪ She had never been mercenary, never driven by money. And look where that got you, she thought. (97)

▪ “You could try being a good daughter first, and a good sister, see how it suits you.” (150)

▪ Another contraction hit, and she dropped her things to the vinyl-tiled floor. (183)

Others:

▪ His gut screamed at him not to let her sign the contract. She was trouble. (103)

▪ “Please remember, you’re paying a premium price for a premium service. You’re not dealing with a front for some baby farm in Mexico or India.” (121)

▪ Back in his car, he clasped his hands together and closed his eyes. The rage writhed and snapped inside him. (178)

▪ Mr. Kovak glanced over his shoulder at her, and she saw the wetness on his cheeks, like he’d been crying. (262)

Memories:

The specter of her mother’s words hung over her, that she would have nothing to be proud of until she gave birth. Her higher mind knew this was nonsense, generations of inverted misogyny manifested in the imperative to breed, as if that were all she was good for. Yet she felt how deep those words had penetrated, in spite of herself. And all those difficult times, when she had become lost, they loomed in her memory. The times she had been sent home from school, her mother waiting for her, saying not a word as she entered the house and went to her room, the silence that smothered their home. The bitter hatred seeping from her mother, It felt to Libby that those things would fade away in her memory if only she could do the one thing her mother deemed worthy of pride. (50-1)

Waiting:

“I love you,” he said, the words hot against her ear. “You know I do. And you know I want to make you happy. But I’m afraid. Can you understand that? I’m afraid this won’t be what you need it to be. I’m afraid it’ll break you.” 

“I’m already broken,” she said. 

He said nothing because he knew she was right. (130)

Kid gloves?

“I’m here for your safety,” he said, his voice gentle as he loomed over her. “That is my primary concern, along with the well-being of the baby. I don’t care what you think I can or can’t do. This is my job and I’m good at it. Whether you like it or not is of no concern to me.”He released her arm and stepped away, turned toward the apartment door. 

“Please take care of yourself, Anna, and don’t hesitate to call me if there’s anything you need. And don’t be late for your appointment next week. End of the first trimester. It’s a big one.” 

He stopped at the door and turned back to her. 

“And please, don’t change the locks. That would only cause a headache for both of us.” 

Mr. Kovak opened the door, stepped through, and closed it behind him. 

Anna ran to the kitchen sink and threw up. (137)