I do not know where to start, so I'll start from the beginning. This book was given to me by Stopchenko, so I'll write right away, Oksana, thank you! When I first started reading, I came across a review from Lelikovna in which she writes that she did not like the book, and actually explained in detail why. I liked the book, and the claims made against it seemed frivolous. And since I promised to start with myself, it is in my review I will give a detailed answer to why and why, a touchstone, so to speak. Since I'm going to review a book about a serial killer, I'm going to cite as an example Andrei Chikatilo, known to everyone at least a little bit, and don't mind if it turns out to be a lot of letters.
Rachel Caine grew up in West Texas and graduated from Socorro High School in El Paso, Texas, in 1980. She earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University in 1985, with minor in music. Caine wrote and published novels and short stories since 1990. She was a professional musician who played with notable musicians including Henry Mancini, Peter Nero, and John Williams.
To begin with, I will tell you a little about what the book is about. The narration is in the first person and if for the previous reviewer this was a minus, for me it is more of a plus, because you can see everything through the eyes of the main character and immerse yourself in her thoughts. Gina Royal married for love, had two children, and was living an ordinary, average family life until a drunk driver drove into her garage. In the wrecked garage, the girl's corpse is found hanging from the ceiling in a noose, and the garage itself, is a torture chamber. So Gina discovers that she has been married all these years to a serial killer with at least 12 victims to his credit. Gina herself is taken into custody suspected of being an accessory to the murders. After a year in custody, trials, and a jury verdict of not guilty, she is released and goes into hiding with her children. New life, new papers, moving from place to place. The family is haunted by distraught relatives of the victims as well as the usual trolls. The ex-husband also doesn't leave Gina alone and sends her threatening letters. And so it would seem, traces are reliably confused, nobody knows them in the new place, one can stop and let the children live a normal life, but in the lake near Gina's house they find a dead girl, with traces of violent death, and the murder handwriting is very similar to that of the husband - a maniac. Of course, suspicion falls on Gina and she has to go through a lot to find out who and why is killing the girls. So there you go.
Now to the complaints about the book. Complaint #1. Gina couldn't have not known or guessed what her husband was up to. Just could, organized killers just very systematically create an atmosphere of normality around them, no one for years without guessing about their nature. For example, Chikatilo had a wife and children who knew nothing. Of course you can say that if she had been more attentive, she should have noticed something, but in my opinion family life is based on trust and if my husband wants to make a locksmith's shop, then why the hell would I go there with inspections. There are no extraneous sounds or marks, the door is locked, what did she need, Bluebeard's favorite to play? I for one have no idea what my husband keeps in his things, maybe there are tons of letters from mistresses, I do not know, because I do not consider it necessary to touch his personal space. That's why I believe she might not have suspected anything, much less known.
Claim #2. Why did he suddenly hate his wife? Well, first of all, if you read carefully, you can see that the police only knew about the last victim found in the garage, and that Gina led the police to 11 more bodies drowned in the lake. And secondly, why would he love her? It's hard to imagine that a homicidal maniac could have tender feelings. And love aside, she disowned him, turned him in to the cops, took the kids and ran away, why wouldn't he hate her?
Claim #3. Gina confided in a network stranger who had previously stalked her and subsequently offered to help her. There could be many reasons for her confiding in him. One of the main ones is that we humans, we are herd creatures, when we are cornered, we really need to trust someone. Also, what are the choices when you run away and are offered help with paperwork, etc.? You can sit proudly on the ground and trust no one, but the escape will be over before it begins. When you have to escape, you can't do without help, so you have to trust someone.
Claim #4. Why does the person who is hiding and running away buy a house? This is where it is as simple as possible. If the action of the book took place in Russia, we should be surprised, but we are in America. In small towns, especially in the South, there are no apartments in America, and people live in houses. So it's not surprising at all that she buys houses, what was she to buy a booth, a tent? A quiet and shabby lake house, in my opinion, is what you need to not stand out among the locals.
Claim #5. How does a person live with fake documents and still get a gun permit, etc. and not get exposed. The whole point of fake documents is to live by them as well as the original ones. Here is the truth, sorry to disappoint Lelikova, but in our country including hundreds of people live with fake passports, driving licenses and diplomas and even manage to work in public service. Here was a case in my practice, a man came and got a job as a handyman in the court, worked his way, everything was fine until he was taken right out of the court, the man was internationally wanted and found him not because he got a job in court. In America, it's even easier, a hacker cracks the system and here is a record of birth, graduation from kindergarten / high school / college, etc., all databases are electronic, they do not have aunt Zina with a little magazine. As for getting a gun, in America, a country where the Constitution allows you to carry a gun, it is elementary, you do not even have to pee in a jar. You have to pass the exam at the shooting range and get a certificate of criminal responsibility, no need to take a dactocard for that. Even in our country CI without fingerprints get.
Claim #6. It is impossible that there would be such harassment on the Internet and such persecution. Of course this is the funniest complaint, I sincerely envy that someone can live and not know about the possibility of persecution in reality. Well first of all, people, relatives of victims, whose souls are torn with pain from loss are ready for such things, that in their right mind they cannot imagine. Vigilante justice is the norm in this scenario! We once had to postpone a court session in another city because relatives, friends and acquaintances of the victims simply stormed the courthouse to get to the defendants. Chikatilo's family was once forced to change their names and move to an unknown direction because there was a real threat to their lives, and I'm not even talking about the harassment. With the advent of the Internet and the creation, mostly overseas, of sites celebrating serialists, and vice versa, bullying has become the norm of life. Just imagine that a maniac's family lives somewhere, hurting them = hurting them, few people admit that the maniac doesn't care. Kill the maniac's family = avenge his own. And it's all here, right next to us, in our lives. And what to say about Internet trolling, that in my opinion should not be questioned at all. And the fact that Gina prints off these sites, of course it's paranoia, and how can you be without it, when you're like a hunted animal, running all the time? Besides, Gina thought that the printouts would be evidence for the police if the stalkers caught up with her family.
Claim seven. Aren't there two maniacs for one book and what guided the actions of the second maniac? A little funny claim, because the plot of such books ("The Apprentice" by Tess Gerritsen, for example) is built on the presence of a copycat maniac, a killer inspired by the crimes of others. You can't do it without him. And what drove him? Well, that's a strange question, too. Admiration! Chikatilo, for example, had at least two real imitators - Muhankin (considered himself a disciple of Chikatilo) and Popkov (wanted to kill more than Chikatilo).
Claim #8. The reviewer immediately realized who the second maniac was. I suppose that was the intention, for the main character had all the clues under her nose, but she ignored them. How do you give clues to the main character without the reader finding out if the story is in first person?
I guess I'll stop, although the complaints aren't over, on the smaller ones I have arguments too. I liked the book, the narrative starts from the first pages and develops smoothly, the interest is not interrupted, the author does not go into nerdiness, which is difficult in such works. The characters are vivid and spelled out, their actions are quite reasonable and logical from the point of view of an ordinary person, especially a cornered one. The maniacs are quite realistic, shown as regular people, not bogeymen for preschoolers. The ending is really open-ended, clearly there will be a sequel, but I don't mind taking it on. I had questions during the course of the narrative as well, but I got answers to all of them. I have no complaints left, maybe I just know the topic a little better from the inside, maybe read a little more non-fiction, I even wish I could look at books without trying it on reality. The book isn't the best I've read in my life, but it's a good book that deserves its solid B!
This article was sponsored by Eduard Samandarov
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