This is one of those domestic noir novels which are
currently so popular. Normally, these leave me more than a little cold, but
NetGalley, one of the review services I use, sent out an email to their
reviewers hyping this book so I thought I would give it a try. Part of the
reason they probably went so big on this book is that by all accounts it was
snapped up quickly by the publishers who were obviously very impressed. So,
it’s a pity that it didn’t do it for me.
The novel starts with a literary agent, Peter Katz,
receiving an unfinished manuscript entitled The Book of Mirrors. Its author is
a man called Richard Flynn who is writing a memoir about his time at Princeton
in the late 1980s. The focus of his book is on his relationship with Laura
Baines, a psychology student and the protégé of a famous psychology Professor,
Joseph Wieder. One night in 1987, Wieder was brutally murdered in his home and
the case was never solved. Unfortunately, the excerpt Flynn sent to Katz
doesn’t reveal who murdered Wieder, but hints heavily that all will be revealed
in the rest of the text. Katz is keen to read the rest. Only one problem, Flynn
has just died of cancer and his partner has no idea where the rest of the
manuscript is. Peter Katz is now determined to either find the manuscript or
have someone investigate what happened that night in lieu of commissioning a
True Crime book on the case. He recruits a former journalist to the cause, who
in turn gets an ex-cop on the case.
A big aspect of this book is memory, whether memory is
like a film camera, recording events faithfully, or whether it is more a
construct. Professor Joseph Wieder’a work focuses on memory, as does that of
Laura Baines, and there are hints that he was working on a secret project for
the military on the manipulation of memories. This is a theme that runs through
the book as we are introduced to the various characters whose recollections of
events are then challenged by the memories of others.
I won’t give away any spoilers, but we find out the truth
as to who murdered Wieder in the end. In some ways, this was a disappointment.
As the whole book is based upon the idea that our memories are not concrete and
might be open to interpretation, I felt that more ambiguity might have
paradoxically provided a more satisfying conclusion.
Having said that The Book of Mirrors is a well-written
novel, its well plotted and hangs together. I did find it difficult to care
however. For a start, I just wonder how much interest readers have in the lives
of authors (Richard Flynn in this case) and literary agents. As an aspiring
author, I understand that we writers care, but I imagine the average reader
doesn’t. Hell, I even find most stories about writers tiresome (except for the
novels of Stephen King where the protagonist is an author). Furthermore, the
life of academia is not that interesting either. None of the characters were
particularly likeable and due to the fact that the perspective of the narrator
changed not once, but three times, (Katz the literary agent, Flynn the writer,
the journalist, then the cop) even those characters we might have empathised
with we never really got to know. I accept that it is not always necessary to
empathise with a character to enjoy a novel. Sometimes with a villain, or in a
noir even with the main protagonist, it can be a joy not to empathise with
them. But in those cases, you must have something to compensate, the author
should take the reader on one hell of a ride.
Unfortunately, the Book of Mirrors didn’t earn my empathy
for any of the characters and it didn’t take me on a hell of a ride.
2 out of 5 stars
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