She Treads Softly: The Death of Us

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

The Death of Us

The Death of Us by Lori Rader-Day
10/3/23; 384 pages
HarperCollins

The Death of Us by Lori Rader-Day is a very highly recommended suspense novel following a fifteen-year-old mystery.

Fifteen years ago, Ashley Hay handed over her baby son Callan to his stepmother, Liss Kehoe, and then disappeared. Since that day Liss has loved and cared for Callan, raising him as her own son. Then the shocking discovery of Ashley's car with a body inside in the quarry pond on Kehoe property opens up the question of Ashley's disappearance along with another cold case. In the small town they live in gossip flies and sentiments turn against Liss and her estranged husband, Link. Town Marshall Mercer Alarie, who has been romantically involved with Liss since Link moved out, now has to open up old cases and confront what Link's father, Key, who was the previous town Marshall, may have hidden.

The main characters are depicted as realistic, complex individuals with backstories and unique personalities. Liss is portrayed as a mother who loves her son, even while she knows in the back of her mind that her connection to him is fragile. Now, with the discovery of what is surely Ashley's body, now she must help her son navigate those complicated feelings.

The small town, where everyone knows everyone's business, or they have at least heard the stories, is a perfect setting for this slow-burning mystery. The setting influences the thoughts and actions of the characters. There are several sub-plots that are as interesting as the main plot threads, and also have the potential to change everything.

The narrative is told through the point-of-view of several characters, including Liss, Mercer, and Key. The Death of Us has a slow start as Radar-Day deftly establishes her characters, the setting, and the background information into place, so it takes some time before the investigation really begins to proceed. Once the investigation starts in earnest, the novel becomes increasingly compelling until it is an immersive mystery and readers will be invested in the outcome. My recommendation is to power through the slow start and get the action. 4.5 rounded up.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins via Edelweiss.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.