New Release Review: LOOKER by Laura Sims
About the Book:
A dazzling, razor-sharp debut novel about a woman whose obsession with the beautiful actress on her block drives her to the edge. I’ve never crossed their little fenced-in garden, of course. I stand on the sidewalk in front of the fern-and-ivy-filled planter that hangs from the fence—placed there as a sort of screen, I’m sure—and have a direct line of view into the kitchen at night. I’m grateful they’ve never thought to install blinds. That’s how confident they are. No one would dare stand in front of our house and watch us, they think. And they’re probably right: except for me. In this taut and thrilling debut, an unraveling woman, unhappily childless and recently separated, becomes fixated on her neighbor—the actress. The unnamed narrator can’t help noticing with wry irony that, though she and the actress live just a few doors apart, a chasm of professional success and personal fulfillment lies between them. The actress, a celebrity with her face on the side of every bus, shares a gleaming brownstone with her handsome husband and their three adorable children, while the narrator, working in a dead-end job, lives in a run-down, three-story walk-up with her ex-husband’s cat. When an interaction with the actress at the annual block party takes a disastrous turn, what began as an innocent preoccupation spirals quickly, and lethally, into a frightening and irretrievable madness. Searing and darkly witty, Looker is enormously entertaining—at once a propulsive Hitchcockian thriller and a fearlessly original portrait of the perils of envy.
*
Looker is available now. Visit the author's website for more information, including purchase links.
༺❃༻
My Thoughts:
Looker is the debut novel of Laura Sims. It's a short and quick read and it's written from the point of view of an unnamed female character. I wouldn't categorize it as a mystery or thriller personally, but as a character study. It's a tale of obsession, and a woman's descent into madness. We see into her mind and are privy to her darker thoughts as her life continues to unravel. I thought the story moved forward at an appropriate pace, and it was interesting enough that I finished it in one evening. I did find that there were more inner thoughts and monologues and less shared dialogue between characters. I would have preferred a little more interaction between them. I also felt as though the ending could have been more thought out and detailed. It wasn't impactful or memorable. Overall, Looker was a satisfactory read. I likely would not read this particular novel again, but I would be interested to read future work from this author.
**Complimentary copy for review provided by Simon & Schuster via Netgalley. All opinions expressed here are honest and entirely my own.**
