I had this book on my shelf for quite a while without remembering why I had it. (Working at a bookstore as I did for a long time, you tend to accumulate a certain number of advanced reading copies of books rather impulsively. Or I did.) The title and cover, which on the ARC has a lot of publisher blurbs, made me think it was a public service kind of book, maybe talking about some public health hazard. It was only when I was straightening up around here one day that I looked at it more closely and realized that I had picked it up because it was by a mystery writer whose name I already knew.
"My wife Sara and I are hosting a faculty party at our home when the Clark Falls Police Department arrives to take me into custody."
That, my friends, is what's known as a hook.
I've been trying to think since I read it about what book or category of books it reminds me of. Today I realized that one story it shares a little in common with is the television version of Pretty Little Liars. There's the same kind of feeling of trouble brewing in a tight, somewhat isolated community. One thing that's brilliant about the book is that it takes place on a cul-de-sac. So the feeling of everybody being crammed together and watching each other is doubly reinforced.
I really enjoyed the escalating tension between Paul Callaway and his creepy, overbearing neighbor. As an outsider from an urban setting, our narrator is in a fine position to notice all the little power moves and enforcement of conformity going on in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, Paul is also his own worst enemy and there's a dark humor in the way that he actually assists in getting himself caught deeper in the web.
Doolittle is a talented writer and I will be reading more.
I'm really glad this book didn't turn out to be about the dangers in our drinking water.
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