I liked Flynn Berry’s earlier novel Under The Harrow very much, and expected to like A Double Life more than I did.
The story is inspired by the 1974 case of Lord Lucan; a privileged man, a bitter marital split, a nanny brutally murdered (presumably because the killer mistook her for the wife), and then the disappearance of the alleged killer, assisted by his wealthy friends.
What I do like about this book is its recognition of the harrowing effect of murder; the way a brutal crime traumatises the people around it for the rest of their lives. In A Double Life, Claire, the alleged murderer’s daughter, simply cannot let it go. The sins of her father feed into every relationship she has and crowd her brain, every day, even thirty years after the crime. She is fixated on the wealthy friends who assisted his escape and every reported sighting of her father brings a hope that he will be bought to justice, but inevitably that hope is destroyed. The spectre of his presence has ruined travel for her; she can’t relax, as he could be anywhere. She is so tired of thinking about him.
Claire’s fatigue is so vividly conveyed that I got tired of thinking about him too. Especially after SPOILER ALERT she finds her father in a foreign country and watches and reports on his every move, day after day. The recounting of every one of his actions is simply tedious. Why doesn’t she just tell the authorities, then watch and wait to make sure he is caught. What is she waiting for? The twist in the final chapter is also unnecessary.
This is an intelligently written book about the ongoing trauma of a terrible crime, but the last one third of it is getting close to boring. Still, Berry is a vivid writer and I look forward to seeing where she goes next.
