Synopsis:
If you look closely, you just may catch a killer.
When Peter Simmons calls his sister Edie from the polio rehabilitation ward, he expects to hear that she’s on her way to get him. Instead, he learns her ex-husband has been murdered—and whispers around town have turned her into a prime suspect.
Determined to set things right, Peter checks himself out of the hospital and heads to Clairbeck, the rugged mining community Edie calls home. He can’t walk or drive unassisted, but armed with his camera and a stubborn streak, he’s intent on proving her innocence.
Clairbeck, however, is far from welcoming. Old grudges between miners and the establishment simmer, and even Edie’s clinic isn’t the safe haven it appears to be. As Peter observes—and then investigates—he starts to wonder … Is someone watching, waiting, and eliminating anyone who steps out of line?
In a town shrouded in secrets, Peter’s eye for truth might be the only thing that stops a killer, unless he draws the killer’s eye first …
Review:
Hello again dear reader or listener, as always, I hope you’re reading good books and, I’m here to suggest yet another one that you should add to your ranks!
With thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for approving my NetGalley request, please come along for my honest thoughts. In fact, this is one of three Poisoned Pen arcs that I’ll be reviewing in a row cause they’ve been killing it this summer! Frankly, it’s a problem since they derailed so much of my TBR. Oh well!!
Don’t Look Close is my first book from author Jaima Fixsen but it definitely won’t be my last! Inspired by some true events/people, Fixsen takes the small town murder mystery and makes it a nuanced yet brutally honest snapshot of the 50s. It “reminds” people of the polio epidemics – because in our Interesting Times™️ it seems necessary unfortunately – and of the severity of the disease and the ensuing disabilities its survivors were left with. It sheds a light on the state of workers’ rights and miner lives of the time, while also educating on the treatment of Chinese immigrants in Canada. And finally, it very deliberately provokes the modern idea that certain people have of the 50s housewife by presenting us with a protagonists who openly challenges her “role” and duties, and the consequences of such actions.
From the moment I started the book the strongest comparison that came to mind was the TV series Why Women Kill (one of the more superb and criminally underrated anthology series out there in my humble opinion) and while you might think I am giving the game away, worry not, dear reader, I promise I am not. My comparison is partly in the aesthetics, given that they share a similar setting time frame, but mainly because of the themes. Truly, Fixsen tackles topics of spousal abuse, various types of oppression and/or discrimination, class struggle, and abuse of power/ neglect of responsibility. Moreover, she doesn’t shy away from the unsavory side of women who do harm to their own gender so long as the system works in their favor. It would be easy to villainize those who don’t challenge the system or act through denial out of self-preservation but Fixsen avoids that pitfall and instead gives the reader the opportunity to empathize and understand without forgiving or condoning. Something I personally find very important with the concerning growing trend of readers demanding moralities spelled out very clearly and flatly. Humans are complex and complicated, and written characters need to reflect the grey areas we live in otherwise we risk losing what empathy and emotional intelligence we have.
As for the main mystery, the author keeps you guessing and even if the victim might not be someone whose death you care to see avenged you’re still fully invested in figuring out who did it and how many others might be in danger. And the main reason behind that is the sibling duo at the heart of this story, Peter and Eddie, who show a bond that is so genuine and realistic that you can’t help but root for them. Aided by a secondary cast of characters that is suitably fleshed out enough to be interesting but not overshadowing the main duo, the two siblings alternating povs really drive in the aforementioned themes and topics by giving us a full 360 of how each gender experienced the world and how that colored their understanding of various situations.
You might think I am stating the obvious but it’s not always that way with multiple povs in stories. Or, often times, you’ll have an author who (through no malice or ignorance), simply overlooks the fact that two characters is a specific time period might understand a situation differently because of who they are, be it because their protagonists are outside of the norm themselves or because they want to tell the reader to think or feel something specific for their story to work.
Finally, I really appreciated Fixsen’s mastery of tension, which she wrote in expertly and built up steadily, sometimes without me even noticing at first! All I knew was my reading got faster, my need to keep reading just one more chapter ever stronger. Until she’d break said tension with an excellent turn of phrase or plot reveal that got me excited to keep going until the very end. Not to mention the added layer of anxiety that comes with the disability rep in Peter, who needs crutches or a wheelchair to move around and, sometimes, neither are available!
Don’t Look Close just came out yesterday and if anything I’ve mentioned caught your eye or you want to broaden your reading with something different than your usual, Fixsen’s work should definitely be on your radar, even if murder mysteries aren’t your common fare.
It is a study in many things but also in the bittersweet acceptance that life always changes, if not soon, eventually, and what matters is our drive being strong enough to keep going and to relearn different ways of living with what it may bring us. Even if it’s completely different and new and hard. Don’t know about you dear reader, but I find that a message worth passing on.
Until next time,
Eleni A.E.
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