"HE was a man who fled from the past..."
"SHE was a woman who lived in it..."
No, wait...
"FOR every man there is a woman who holds the key to his past..."
"FOR every woman, there is a man who can open her future..."
**********
OK, this was never made into a movie, and Susan Isaacs is a much better writer than me, but her two strong protagonists seem just right for the big screen. Detective Stephen Brody is a modern film noir hero, straight out of Bogart: He's a cynic who doesn't play by the rules, he has his own moral code (that, nevertheles,p lays well with readers,, and when he falls for a woman, he falls hard. That is, if he can remember his alcohol-induced trysts. See, Brody has a past, no, make that a PAST! ...possibly undiagnosed PTSD out of Vietnam, subsequent heavy-duty alcoholism, and a strangely askew family history, including a would-be social climber of a mom on the fringes of upper-class Long Island.
Ms. Bonnie Spencer is the castoff spouse of rich guy producer Sy Spencer, neatly killed (it looks like a professional hit) near the location of his newest movie. He's having an affair with the lead, who's fooling aroun with the director, even the technical and artistic staff are fooling around with each other--it's wonder anything got made (meaning the movie, of course). Brody arrives en scene, and he and his partners in Homicide focus on three suspects, eventually zooming in on Ms. Spencer. Ms. Spencer was a slightly promising screenwriter when she met Sy Spencer; she's an impoverished hack living la vida promiscuous when Sy Spencer reenters her life. Importantly, there's a strange attraction and sexual tension between detective Brody and Bonnie Spencer, something fishier than the Long Island Sound is going on here. One starts thinking Oedipal Complex before too long, but Ms. Isaacs resolves the mystery credibly, if somewhat conveniently.
It's a fast "page-turner" of a book, believable, with a supposed man's eye view of sex (maybe if you're an alcoholic man with a PAST), and fairly credible multiple suspects. Really, I looked forward to getting back in to the book, the dialogue crackles, the observations on the Long Island social scene are funny and well-observed, and Brody has that Bogart-like appeal. Still, when you're done with the book, you can't help but wonder how Isaacs does so well with so little: There are only a few plot twists (though they're important ones), almost no action or violence (except fot that page one murder of Sy Spencer), and the characters seem too familiar.
The appeal is simple-- it's Susan Isaac's writing. Infused with genuine humor, a compelling cast of minor characters, and snappy dialogue between Brody and Bonnie Spencer, the book isn't your typical mystery. Isaacs doesn't waste time on fussy details or convoluted plot mechanics. It's refreshingly direct, it mixes Shirlock Holmesian deduction with Mickey Spillane sex, and she mixes bemused detachment with intense drama. As she's proven several times over, Isaacs is a master story-teller.
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