Walking on the Moon

I kind of wandered into this rather than seeking it out. I grabbed a thriller to chew on while one of my holds came in, so I didn’t have expectations. I found it a pretty good thriller/procedural with some strange tonal shifts.

The lead investigator on the case is significantly defined by his abuse as a child in the foster care system and the first victim is similarly defined by abuse. I found the initial chapters that abuse and the investigator’s reactions to what he sees of it affecting in difficult ways. I was thinking that this was going to be more of an emotional exploration of the effect of abuse on people.

But as the book goes on, the depth of that exploration shallows out. The abuse is still there and a central driver of the plot, but Karin Slaughter lives less in the heads of the sufferers. And other colorful members of the investigation team appear who provide other viewpoints. As the book goes on it becomes more of a traditional whodunnit.

It’s a good whodunnit. The team is interesting. The mystery is twisty and engaging. And the abuse remains there, but it becomes more of a Law & Order: SVU level of intensity.

It’s also part of a series of books, so the investigators all have backstories and histories that I didn’t know about. I usually don’t jump into the middle of a series, but it wasn’t an impediment. I probably won’t jump back in to check on them though.

I enjoyed it.

Not only did I recently realize that Shirley Jackson was important, I’ve been on something of a tear through her work. Castle is broadly the story of a haunted house from the perspective of the haunters. Who are still alive. At the very least it tells a story of how that creepy house you grew up afraid of might have become that creepy house without anything supernatural happening at all.

But then again, there might have been some witchery. But no more than knocking wood, but everything is heightened here. It’s another book by Jackson that transports you into a world that’s slightly off, but not in any way that you can put a finger on. That transportation is just a delight, both in experience and seeing aspects of the trick as it happens.

You can interpret it from different angles as well. Characters seem to stand in for aspects of the mind and watching them interact can be like hearing your own inner monologue. And the spooky stuff is all still going on, as is some class struggle and…

So, a rich text.

In addition to all those structural and thematic acrobatics, there are so many individual sentences that made me catch my breath. Just amazing.

A must.

Man, I don’t know how I was unaware of Shirley Jackson until recently, but it does mean I get to be blown away by a great author for the first time later in life.

“The Lottery” has a reputation as a great short story, of which I was unaware, and it’s well earned. It’s evocative, powerful, and deep. In a couple pages it can completely rattle your worldview. Even if someone else has canted your worldview the same direction, it’s still an amazing story.

“The Lottery” comes at the end of a collection of other great short stories that have set a high bar for perfectly crafted stories. The whole time I was reading the collection having been clued in to “The Lottery”‘s reputation and thinking I’d be disappointed because everything up to it was so good. Nope. All great stuff.

Strongly Recommended.