Eli Gottlieb’s NOW YOU SEE HIM is why one wades through box after box of mediocre mysteries and fanboy fantasies, in an effort to find something a little beyond the pale, a little special. When it’s found, one wants to share it with all the readers, in the hope that everyone will get the same amount of pleasure from the work.
But there’s a challenge. This is certainly not a mystery novel in any ordinary sense. It’s much more of an emotional, “literary” effort that may not necessarily appeal to those who just like an unfettered romp with an amateur detective.
Told from the point of view of one Nick Framingham, we find that as he leaves the bloom of his late 20s, his life is on the fast track to self-destruction. He has paid so little attention to his marriage to his beautiful wife that the relationship has foundered. And he has paid so little attention to his own life, ambitions and capabilities, that nothing much is going to happen there, either.
And then his all-time best childhood friend, Rob Castor, commits a terrible crime. Castor’s own life went pear-shaped when he felt the love of his life had betrayed him by becoming a more successful writer, and after a long brooding period, Castor kills the woman.
Nick tells this story in a mournful, elegiac tone, intertwining his and Rob’s childhood with stories of the present, moving back and forth in time, attempting to explain his unique relationship with Rob and the Castor family, and attempting to find some level of accommodation with his own stagnated life. It is a sad and thoughtful novel, beautifully written, meticulously composed and deeply felt. Highly recommended. —Mark Rose
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