Another 87th Precinct reread, "Blood Relatives" by Ed McBain takes place in the mid-1970s. Patricia stumbles into the precinct one rainy night, cut up and covered in blood. She has just witnessed her cousin, Muriel, being brutally stabbed and barely escaped with her life. The police go on a manhunt, trying to find the man Patricia described. Days pass with no leads, until Patricia shows up calmly at the police station and announces that her brother, Andrew, killed Muriel and she was lying to protect him. When Carella finds Muriel's diary, he discovers she and Andrew were secretly having an affair, but she wanted to end things and he didn't and got violent. Andrew is looking guiltier by the minute, but there's a neat twist to the end. At least, I think it's neat.
"The Marriage Plot" by Jeffrey Eugenides was very good (even if I have no idea how to pronounce his last name!). It takes place in the early 1980s. Madeline and Mitchell are graduating from college and have very different perspectives on what their adult lives will be like. Mitchell, sad over Madeline's rejection, takes off on an extended trip to Europe and India, hoping to find meaning in life. Madeline gets back together with her mentally ill boyfriend, Leonard, and tries desperately to save him from himself. It sort of reminded me of Bret Easton Ellis, only not nearly as bleak and depressing. Maybe it was just the time period, or the whole "coming of age" subject matter. Either way, Eugenides made it quite interesting and enjoyable.
No comments:
Post a Comment