Duplicate Keys [Paperback]

Jane Smiley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2004

Alice Ellis is a Midwestern refugee living in Manhattan. Still recovering from a painful divorce, she depends on the companionship and camaraderie of tightly knit circle of friends. At the center of this circle is a rock band struggling to navigate New York’s erratic music scene, and an apartment/practice space with approximately fifty key-holders. One sunny day, Alice enters the apartment and finds two of the band members shot dead. As the double-murder sends waves of shock through their lives, this group of friends begins to unravel, and dangerous secrets are revealed one by one. When Alice begins to notice things amiss in her own apartment, the tension breaks out as it occurs to her that she is not the only person with a key, and she may not get a chance to change the locks.

Jane Smiley applies her distinctive rendering of time, place, and the enigmatic intricacies of personal relationships to the twists and turns of suspense. The result is a brilliant literary thriller that will keep readers guessing up to its final, shocking conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“As taut and chilling as anything Hitchcock put on film.” –San Francisco Chronicle

“A first-rate cliffhanger.” –The New York Times Book Review

“Penetrating. . . . Smiley’s lovely, clear prose takes to the mystery as a slow revelation of character that heats up to a page-turning finish.” –Ms.

“Sharp and memorable. . . . Finely wrought.” –Newsday

From the Inside Flap

"Sharp and memorable...Finely wrought."
NEWSDAY
They were six friends from the Midwest who moved to New York City with high hopes of making it big in the music industry. Although the dream had faded, they had all remained friends--or so it seemed. One brilliant day, two of the group were shot in an apartment for which they all had duplicate keys.
A riveting suspense story about the emotional aftermath of murder--the jealousy and hatred, the deception and rage, and the shocking secrets that lie between even the closest of friends.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (November 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400076021
• ISBN-13: 978-1400076024
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,048,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unexpectedly suspenseful, May 4, 1998

By 

L. L. Moore "raincitykitty" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Duplicate Keys (Paperback)

I came across this book on Amazon.com when I was browsing through the list of Jane Smiley titles. A *mystery* by Jane Smiley? I'm a big mystery buff, so I had to read it.

And you know what? I really enjoyed it, both from a suspense standpoint and a literary standpoint. I guessed the identity of the murderer even before the protagonist, but there was still a great deal of suspense as to how the situation would play out which kept me reading all day until the final page.

While most standard murder mysteries switch between several viewpoints, Smiley shows the whole story through the eyes of Alice Ellis, so that the reader is as much in the dark as she is; I think this helped tremendously with the suspense. The novel also examines how the murder affected the friends of the victims, both their self-perception and their relationships with each other. Most characters were well-drawn and fleshed-out and the changing dynamic of their relationships made the book as compelling a novel as it was a mystery.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Smiley's usual but still an excellent murder mystery, November 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Duplicate Keys (Paperback)

Jane Smiley writes about families and relationships, not murder mysteries, so it's a feather in her cap for versatility that she acquits herself more than decently on this atypical novel of hers. The murders have already taken place before we begin, so the rest of the novel has us backtracking through a minefield of relationships that once bound the friends together. Quite clearly, the network has collapsed beneath the growing rot that nobody seemed to care to notice until the inevitable happened. The friendship, if you could call it that, was undermined by a combination of sexual betrayal, professional jealousies and other dependencies and left to find its own bloody equilibrium. The narrator Alice Ellis' voice isn't an unequivocal one. It's hard to nail her personality down or even decide whether she's likeable or not. She's bitter, insecure, vulnerable, defiant and bitchy all at the same time. But then again, we are reminded that Smiley is always more interested in the people than the plot and so it shouldn't be too surprising that we get an edgy character for a heroine and some excellent characterisation to boot.

Some readers have complained about the identity of the murderer being predictable. I don't. If there's an awkward and unsatisfactory element in the story, it's in the romantic subplot. Henry may be the secret lover who lives across the street but he doesn't belong. He should have been saved for Smiley's next book about Alice. Smiley may have set out to write a different novel but she couldn't help but leave large traces of her familiar genre behind. Still, "Duplicate Keys" is a hugely enjoyable novel. Recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some flaws, but not horrible, February 13, 2001

By 

Manola Sommerfeld (California) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Duplicate Keys (Paperback)

In the context of those books of hers that i have read, this is the worst. However, in the context of mystery novels, this is pretty decent. The book is an easy read, ideal for a plane ride or a leisurely weekend. Alice, as a main character, is pretty pathetic. The short snippets of conversation between her and her ex husband made me cringe. I had far more respect for the killer, a sturdier person all in all. I agree with some readers in that it is fairly easy to figure out who did it. Anyhow, a Pulizter Prize winning author doesn't have to write Pulizter Prize material all the time!