Reading: Douglas Kennedy

The Woman in the Fifth

Douglas Kennedy

A few weeks ago (quite possibly more than a few), as I was checking out some knitting book from the library, I spotted a book on the Bestsellers stand at the library. You know, the small collection of books that enough people want now that the library can charge $5 a week for them and a $1 a day overdue charge.

Typically I'm cheap enough to be patient, and will add my name to the list of holds for the regular stack copy of the book, and hand over the $1 reserve fee for the usual free 3 week lending period.

As I can, and frequently do, race through a good book in an evening or two, I do occasionally splurge if something takes my eye. And this is all a long way of saying that The Woman In The Fifth by Douglas Kennedy was such a book. I'd never heard of him before, and I can't really say now what it was about the book that suckered me in (though it was not the hardcover book that usually puts me off), but I handed over my money, and went home to read.

I enjoyed it. It'd suck to have handed over $5 for a book I didn't enjoy! There's enough going on in the book that the inattentive reader would wonder constantly what the hell was going on. Really, even the attentive reader will find them in that position from time to time, as that's what the main character is doing at various points, and never truly does he get an answer.

Having found an author with a unique enough style that it was worth the effort, I reserved a few books penned by him, and patiently waited. So far I've read Temptation, and now have The Job on the ready to serve as an escape from numerous unfinished knitting projects!

Unlike some authors who like to recycle, intentionally or otherwise, locales and plot devices, it seems that Kennedy is taken with exploring the questionable decisions men make, temptation, greed, manipulation and betrayal. The things we do, and later wish he hadn't (sometimes only when our lives begin to spiral out of our control).