Guest, Judith: The Tarnished Eye

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The principal crime under investigation in Judith Guest's 2004 police procedural is a gruesome mass murder: a family of six is found slaughtered in their vacation home, deep in the woods of a sleepy Michigan town. The discovery of the bodies is preceded by a number of chapters introducing the family--Edward, the type A executive, who runs his family like a business; his wife and children responding to the pressure of his obsession with control in various ways. We also meet Hugh DeWitt, competent small-town sheriff and family man, whose world view has been darkened by the death of his only son in infancy. The novel follows the sheriff's investigation as he interviews anyone who knew the reclusive family, both in his own precinct and in Ann Arbor, where Edward worked and his family lived most of the year. Unfortunately, help from the big city police department is hard to come by since the city is dealing with sensational crimes of its own, a string of women found raped and murdered.

It's hard to say why Guest's book works so well. It doesn't call attention to itself. The writing is smooth but transparent. The plot isn't gasp-inducing, and yet I couldn't stop reading. Somehow, Guest makes writing look easy. Reading the book, it's clear that you're in the hands of an author who has complete control of the story. Give this one a whirl: it won't take you long!

Comments

[heather (errantdreams)]

1.

Sounds much more suspenseful than the supposed suspense book I'm reading now, which I keep putting down to do everything but!