THE BOOK OF MURDER
Guillermo Martinez
Viking
Psychological Suspense
Hardcover: 9780670019946
Paperback: 9780143115809
What would you do if you answered the phone and heard a voice from deep in your past, shaky and panicked and begging for your help?
“… ‘it is a matter of life and death…Nobody knows. Nobody realizes’...Even more quietly, as if she could hardly bring herself to say the name, she whispered: ‘It’s about Kloster.’”
Kloster, the author who every other writer envies. No, more than envies --- aspires to be. There is so much jealousy that it borders on hatred. No other writer in Argentina even comes close to Kloster’s talent. He is in a class of his own. Even more frustrating is the fact that he shuns publicity. He is as big a mystery as the stories he writes. How could he be responsible for the fear in her voice?
Ten years ago, Kloster hired a pretty young assistant named Luciana to take dictation. She proved to be perfect in many ways. When it came time for Kloster to leave for a month-long retreat, he went with great reluctance, unhappy that he could not take Luciana with him. The assistant, still needing the income, found a temporary job with another writer. It all seemed to be a perfectly innocent set of circumstances. But two of the three players were men with good-sized egos and vivid imaginations, as writers of fiction can be, and the third was this lovely woman with no designs on either one of them.
Now, a decade later, Kloster is as popular as ever, the other writer is still struggling but has achieved some success, and Luciana is older, less beautiful and desperate. She clearly is haunted and turns to the writer for help. When he hears her voice on the telephone, he remembers with fondness the graceful neck and the youthful body, and allows himself to dream a little. Could there be something between them after all? But confronted by the reality of Luciana’s thickened waist, her developing double chin and an irrational, consuming fear, he shrinks from her, almost wishing he had never answered her call.
And who can blame him? Her story is beyond fantastic. She claims that, after Kloster returned from his month away 10 years ago, their professional relationship took a bad turn. He misinterpreted some of her comments and mannerisms; she recoiled, horrified by his unwanted advances, and it started a series of events that led to the dissolution of Kloster’s marriage and the death of his daughter. And he blames Luciana! She knows this because she has lost several loved ones in the intervening years, and the manner of their deaths is suspiciously similar to the ones dictated to her back when she worked for Kloster. He is taking his revenge --- very slowly and methodically.
The writer doesn’t know whether or not to believe her, but feels a sense of obligation to at least make rudimentary inquiries. His efforts are clumsy and somewhat naïve. After all, he is a writer, not a detective. The only idea he can come up with is to confront Kloster directly. If anything, his questions seem to amuse the great author, who gives answers so wonderfully logical that the young writer starts to feel a bit foolish. More back-and-forth with Luciana, and he still remains perplexed.
Finally, just as he believes he has seen the truth of the matter, he finds out how utterly fantastic Kloster is at writing endings. “…I never contemplated, never glimpsed the other, yet more terrible, possibility that awaited us.”
Creepy and eerie, the suspense mounts relentlessly, giving neither the reader nor Luciana a chance to breathe. Guillermo Martinez builds a terrifying tale of murder and revenge. But wait. Is it murder? Or revenge? Read THE BOOK OF MURDER to find out. This is a little book that packs a big punch. And a big surprise.
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
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