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A review by millennial_dandy
Suspicion by Julia Grice
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
3.5
'Suspicion' isn't a novel that relies on shock, surprise, or twists to keep itself going: you pretty much understand immediately what is happening and what's going to happen. Julia Grice tries to throw in a pretty Ludacris third act twist that barely makes sense, but we didn't need that, and the narrative didn't really call for it. At least, not in the way it happens.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Horror is particularly adept at handling duality. That is to say, what you see is very rarely, if ever, what it's actually about.
On the surface, Suspicion is about a crazy killer brutally beating women in metro-Detroit to death in their homes, and he just might be the protagonist's handsome fiancé. This part of the plot is pretty by the numbers, but serviceable.
What <i>I</i> found interesting about it was <i>why</i> the protagonist was able to get sucked in by a guy who is so obviously a freak even without being a killer. Her best friend doesn't like him, her son hates this guy, but she stands by him even in the face of pretty clear evidence that he's 'The Basher.'
Why?
Well, because before the start of the story, she'd been dumped by her first husband after battling breast cancer and getting a partial mastectomy. And not only after all that, but <i>because</i> of that. As in: her then husband viewed her, in no uncertain terms, as damaged goods, claiming that her cancer had been hard on him too, and that seeing her sick and now having to live with her and adjust to the physical changes that illness resulted in was too much for him and he simply wasn't attracted to her anymore.
Horrible, ew, gross: I hate it.
But... is it unbelievable? I don't think so. There's an ugly truthfulness to a set-up like that that made this woman's depression-fueled desperation to believe in the first guy to give her positive attention after that believable and sympathetic.
And this is hammered in by Grice over and over again. Every time the protagonist gets a niggling feeling that something isn't quite right about this new relationship, she tells herself that, in a way, she owes him her loyalty because he's willing to; accept' the fact that she's this damaged, deformed, middle-aged creature with a rebellious teenaged son.
You really just wanted to shake this woman and tell her to get a grip, except that...well... there was a little bit of truth to her feelings and fears.
And that was the real horror of the story.
I also enjoyed the character arc her son got, and the ending (after an...<i>imperfect</i> climax) was actually pretty wholesome and thoughtful, and I can't begin to express how glad I was that it didn't involve this woman being rescued by some implied future love interest.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Horror is particularly adept at handling duality. That is to say, what you see is very rarely, if ever, what it's actually about.
On the surface, Suspicion is about a crazy killer brutally beating women in metro-Detroit to death in their homes, and he just might be the protagonist's handsome fiancé. This part of the plot is pretty by the numbers, but serviceable.
What <i>I</i> found interesting about it was <i>why</i> the protagonist was able to get sucked in by a guy who is so obviously a freak even without being a killer. Her best friend doesn't like him, her son hates this guy, but she stands by him even in the face of pretty clear evidence that he's 'The Basher.'
Why?
Well, because before the start of the story, she'd been dumped by her first husband after battling breast cancer and getting a partial mastectomy. And not only after all that, but <i>because</i> of that. As in: her then husband viewed her, in no uncertain terms, as damaged goods, claiming that her cancer had been hard on him too, and that seeing her sick and now having to live with her and adjust to the physical changes that illness resulted in was too much for him and he simply wasn't attracted to her anymore.
Horrible, ew, gross: I hate it.
But... is it unbelievable? I don't think so. There's an ugly truthfulness to a set-up like that that made this woman's depression-fueled desperation to believe in the first guy to give her positive attention after that believable and sympathetic.
And this is hammered in by Grice over and over again. Every time the protagonist gets a niggling feeling that something isn't quite right about this new relationship, she tells herself that, in a way, she owes him her loyalty because he's willing to; accept' the fact that she's this damaged, deformed, middle-aged creature with a rebellious teenaged son.
You really just wanted to shake this woman and tell her to get a grip, except that...well... there was a little bit of truth to her feelings and fears.
And that was the real horror of the story.
I also enjoyed the character arc her son got, and the ending (after an...<i>imperfect</i> climax) was actually pretty wholesome and thoughtful, and I can't begin to express how glad I was that it didn't involve this woman being rescued by some implied future love interest.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Violence
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, and Blood