"Look Closer" by David Ellis
Look Closer by David Ellis
Four Stars
March 2024
Four Stars
March 2024
Crime novelist David Ellis writes a twisty story that kept me guessing throughout the book. The story is about law professor Simon and his social worker wife Vicky who have a mutual respect but a loveless marriage. In the very first chapter we find Simon sneaking away from the scene of a newly committed crime leaving this reader wondering if the who done it, was no mystery at all. Simon writes in his journal daily, in a style that conflicts with a distinguished academic. After the first few chapters I found little motivation to continue reading as I hoped for a main character I could root for, but I had to keep reading. But by placing Simon at the crime scene as the obvious murderer, I was expecting to find out who the real murderer was, and why was Simon hanging around?
The plot showcases all kinds of characters with unsavory goals and little ethics. This book covers all the sins, adultery, fraud, identity theft, extortion and murder. The twists and turns on the journey to discovery are nicely executed and the ending brings it all home. A crime story written by a judge delivers an interesting frame of reference where one could imagine him having crossed paths with a slew of undesirables as depicted in this book. Could revenge be carried out so brilliantly there are no consequences? That is for the reader to decide. ~Kim Luke
Book Blurb-
"Simon and Vicky couldn't seem more a wealthy Chicago couple with a stable, if unexciting, marriage. But with these two... absolutely nothing is what it seems. When a beautiful socialite is found hanging in a mansion in a nearby suburb, Simon and Vicky's complex web of secrets begins to unravel. A whirlwind affair. A twenty-million-dollar trust fund about to come due. A decades-long grudge and an obsession with revenge. Both Vicky and Simon are liars--but just who exactly is conning who? Prepare to question everything you think you know in this wickedly clever novel of greed, revenge, obsession--and quite possibly the perfect murder."
"Simon and Vicky couldn't seem more a wealthy Chicago couple with a stable, if unexciting, marriage. But with these two... absolutely nothing is what it seems. When a beautiful socialite is found hanging in a mansion in a nearby suburb, Simon and Vicky's complex web of secrets begins to unravel. A whirlwind affair. A twenty-million-dollar trust fund about to come due. A decades-long grudge and an obsession with revenge. Both Vicky and Simon are liars--but just who exactly is conning who? Prepare to question everything you think you know in this wickedly clever novel of greed, revenge, obsession--and quite possibly the perfect murder."
