I feel pretty jaded when it comes to thrillers these days. I have been struggling with the genre and have for a while now refused to buy or borrow a book that has "girl" in the title or one that has that samey quality to it--yet another book among the crowd with a similar plot. A cover with a girl running, her back to the reader, that sort of thing. What annoys me most is that paranoid quality to the protagonist--she has lost her memory or drinks too much, hence a totally unreliable narrator. (Actually normally I love unreliable narrators). I understand paranoia when it comes to thrillers, but it can feel like an overplayed card.
I must be jaded as I am not generally too critical about the books I read. That said, I was really pleasantly surprised by Clare Mackintosh's I See You (which I think my friend Liz might have suggested I try). This is a story that felt very fresh and a twisty plot that I have not come across--a story not yet told (and then riffed on by other authors). There was a little of the paranoia-thing going on, which I understand is a technique the author uses to ratchet up the tension, but it fit the story. I think it resonated so much because it is about the assumed anonymity of taking public transportation and who might be looking when you are not paying attention. I take public transportation and I can see that something like this might be all too plausible.
The story is narrated by three people, Zoe Walker who takes the Tube on her daily commute and notices something odd going on, Kelly Swift, a British Transport Police officer who narrowly missed being kicked off the force after an altercation with a suspect, and in italicized print the reader is privy to the inner workings of the murderer, which is always a little unnerving. Both Zoe and Kelly are interesting and very flawed characters and into their messy lives enters a most curious criminal act. One day Zoe notices a photo of herself in a newspaper ad for an online dating service. Although grainy, it is definitely a photo of her snagged from somewhere on the internet. She begins looking for the ad each day to see if her photo reappears, but it seems as if they show a different woman each day. Most unsettling is some of the women have been the targets of a crime usually on their daily commutes. She begins worrying she will be next and will anyone believe her if she contacts the police with her suspicions.
Kelly has been relegated to the "dip squad", which is working the trains and patrolling for pickpockets and other crimes of theft. It's not the most glamorous or the most interesting, but she is lucky to have a job at all. It was Kelly who aided in one of the crimes that may be linked to the ads, and eventually she and Zoe link up. And the criminal narrates his trolling of the Tube and watching women and the things they do. They fall asleep with their bags on their laps. They immerse themselves in their books with such intensity that they barely look up when switching trains. They don't pay attention leaving them with a nice target on their back that, according to the killer, just begs for them to be bothered (or worse).
I don't want to give too much away as the unraveling of just what goes on between the killer and the women and how the ads come into play is most inventive and what impressed me the most about this book. It does make you think about how easy it is to become distracted. Of course there is more at play in this story. Zoe's paranoia blossoms and everyone in her life becomes suspect and more than a few people have things to hide, whether related to the crime or not. Read this and you might think twice about who is sitting next to you on public transport.
Clare Mackintosh is definitely on my 'must read another by her' list. This is a psychological thriller that reminds me, albeit with a very modern take, of vintage Ruth Rendell (and in my book there this is high praise indeed). This was my June prompt choice for 'planes, trains and automobiles'. I'm already well into Michael Ondaatje's The Cat's Table, so I might even manage a second prompt book this month.