I love a good mystery story,
even a mediocre one at that. I never really got into science fiction even
though I took a whole semester on the subject, and I have always been a horror
guy from a young age, but as I began to become a reading machine a couple of
years ago, I found that I had a keen interest in the mystery/noir/crime genre,
from Pelecanos to Lehane, and even writers like Joe R. Lansdale and Frank Bill
who tell noir stories so dark it can be construed as horror. And now added to
that list is Baltimore based mystery writer Laura Lippman, whose novel I’d Know
You Anywhere, is a crime story that reads so smooth and clear, you almost
forget some of the weak parts. It is not a traditional crime or mystery story
in the sense that we know who did what to whom, but the why is the aspect of
the story where the actions are built upon. Eliza Benedict, formerly Elizabeth
Lerner, is a common housewife with a loving husband and two kids, who, one day,
gets a call from the convicted serial killer Walter Bowman, who kidnapped her
for six weeks twenty years ago. He wants to talk and find out if the secret
Eliza is hiding can save him from death row. Mixing compelling flashbacks to
Eliza’s time with Walter and her present day journey toward the truth of what
happened to the last victim, Holly, make up this novel where secrets long past
can have little or a lot of effects on those around the secrets bearer, and how
that secrets power manifests itself. Like I said, there are weak moments,
mainly with the multiple points of view which Lippman is not adept at,
therefore it derails the story somewhat, but it all leads to a bittersweet
climax where we are not sure what, if anything has changed. At its worst, it is
a good way to kill a couple days, and I cannot wait to read more Lippman.
Rating: 4/5
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