Truthfully, I did not order the next book but it fell into my hands, so to speak, a very lucky thing because as I've already told you, the huge Toronto Public Library system is still down as of November 22nd, over three weeks of it, no online access, no book orders circulating, and I can't for the life of me understand why this has not been front page NEWS, this important resource for so many people. How greedy and wicked is this attack? Libraries are nothing but a good influence in this world. TPL is not paying ransom.
Benjamin Stevenson. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. NYC: Mariner Books / HarperCollins, 2022.
Out of Australia comes this beguiling, crackerjack book. Stay away from the Cunninghams, such a bad lot by reputation—so laments writer and narrator Ernest (Ern) Cunningham, telling us about his dysfunctional family with humour and tolerance. Despite the general antipathy among them for each other, they gather at a winter ski resort to welcome Ern's brother Michael, just released from prison. A family reunion, of sorts. Their mother Audrey ignores Ern because he testified at the trial against Michael (who killed a guy in a complicated, clandestine business). Michael's ex-wife Lucy wants him back; Michael wants Ern's estranged wife Erin; Lucy wants to kill Erin. Stepsister Sofia wants the hospital to reinstate her surgery credentials. Even more relatives and outsiders jump in.
In no particular order, we hear about a very large bag full of cash (whose money??), scattered dead bodies (not all identified), a bizarre cause of death, a spectacular truck ride into a lake, an ineffectual cop, and Ern sharing his theories about whodunnit. His father Jimmy, Audrey's first husband, started it all as a petty thief, a gang member, then a police informant; now he's dead. Frankly, I was lost at times in the intricacies of who knew what when about something, maybe because a tiny bit of math is involved. But I was captivated. I loved Ern's writing style that reveals a likeable, somewhat awkward, introspective, justice warrior. Or foot soldier, perhaps. And the snappy, snippy dialogue among the squabblers. The plot is a major Agatha Christie challenge for serious amateur detectives. If that's your self-description, go find it!
One-liners
▪ I know you're probably thinking that three years isn't much for a murder sentence, and you'd be right. (37)
▪ Since Michael's trial, Sofia had been the only one who kept in touch. (39)
▪ "One day you'll realize family isn't about whose blood runs in your veins, it's who you'd spill it for." (47)
▪ "If the guy died from exposure overnight, why would he be bleeding?" (58)
▪ Someone who writes books about how to write books, with no legal background, who has just, for reasons I can't yet fathom and with questionable legality, been nominated as legal counsel for a suspected murderer—or maybe serial killer, if I take Lucy's word about the dramatic prerequisites—who is supposed to despise me. (107-8)
▪ I wished people would stop telling me that whatever was in the truck was going to change my life. (188)
▪ "He was alive when I left him," I said. (247)
▪ There are no sex scenes in this book. (253)
Multi-liners
▪ Something you should know about me is that I like to look at everything two ways. I'm always trying to see both sides of the coin. (29)
▪ "Well?" she said. "Did you bring the money?" (41)
▪ "Just look at how they've treated you. And you still think you owe them?" (47)
▪ I suddenly believed every news article I'd read about mothers lifting cars to save their children. Well, the ones they liked anyway. (98)
▪ "He was telling me what Dad died for. Selling someone else out." (162)
▪ "I told you. Lucy got us in a hole. Alan couldn't sell what he had directly, so he wanted someone to do it for him; I got in the middle." (163)
▪ His hair was gray with charcoal dust. I needed to get him flat to try to breathe into him, but Juliette still wasn't back to cut the zip ties. (234)
Catherine McKenzie. Have You Seen Her. Ebook download from TPL. Toronto: Simon & Schuster Canada, 2023.
Cassie Peters, the main narrator, is on the run. The reason appears to be escape from her abusive husband, Kevin Adams. From a wealthy life in Manhattan, Cassie secretly (she hopes) joins a search-and-rescue team in Yosemite Park, a job she has experience with, having grown up in the area—it's basically outdoor living in the rough. She visits her mother who lives nearby, the only person who has her new cell phone number. Hiking and climbing season is on and the campgrounds are full. Camper Jada is posting on "socials" her adventures in an Airstream trailer with boyfriend Jim. Camper Petal, not a climber, is quietly journaling her thoughts, not all of which are happy about her girlfriend Sandy who brought her here. Petal and Jada become friendly.
Cassie lives with anxiety—a fraught relationship with mom, a growing attraction to team colleague Ben, and worst of all, threatening texts arriving on her phone: I will find you. Some triggers remind her of ten years ago when her friend Cameron went missing on a hike with her boyfriend and the end result was traumatizing. Now, Jada and Jim have disappeared on a trail; a huge search is underway. Kevin seems to be closing in. The book's division of "Then" and "Now" doesn't quite work for me, since "Then" is sometimes ten years ago or sometimes just yesterday, but it supports the author's starting off with a helicopter rescue right now, continuing intermittently.
Underscoring the relationships, a current of abusive control over another human being is evident among several relationships. Identity, not only with names, is an issue. The big reveal seems a bit like cheating the reader, not one of McKenzie's best, but she can always be relied upon to deliver a twisty story with interesting characters and circumstances. And she's Canadian.
Bits
▪ Four texts and an email for good measure, all saying the same thing. Where the fuck are you? (15)
▪ Sandy pulled that big wad of cash out of the mattress. Not under, but out of. (33)
▪ Ben and Gareth are talking to the EMTs, telling them, presumably, that the body was beyond saving, beyond recognition. (81)
▪ I'd become Cassandra Adams, a polished woman who worked in an art gallery and got her nails done and knew how to blow out her hair almost as well as the salon. (103)
▪ Sometimes we'd go looking for the bear. She named him Smokey which isn't very original, but don't say that to Jada! (108)
▪ I can't think of the last time I made a move on a man, and my cheeks are already burning with the effort. (134)
▪ Jenny's worried, worried I'll talk to the press and tell the real version of what happened to Cameron all those years ago. The one that didn't make it into the report. (189)
▪ Sandy did this to me. But she's not going to get away with it. (209)
▪ "What did you do to Jim in that cave?" (277)
▪ "Did you think all this was your plan? Is that what you thought? That you were in charge?" (286)
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