She Lies Close

May 1, 2020
Grace Wright is a little upset. She bought herself a new house a few months ago and then found out her next-door neighbour is a prime suspect in the abduction of a five-year-old girl. Grace has two young kids, so her anger is understandable. What is slightly less understandable is the way Grace soon becomes obsessed with her neighbor and with trying to figure out some way to prove he's guilty. This is not really a flaw in the story; debut novelist Doering clearly intends Grace to be obsessive, unstable, and generally unpredictable. This proves a very refreshing departure from the many similar novels in which the protagonist is strong, resourceful, and measured. Grace, still a long way from bouncing back from a divorce and the concomitant upheavals to her life, is perhaps a more realistic protagonist: exhausted, frayed of nerve, and rash of judgment. A very interesting and well-thought-out thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

July 13, 2020
Recently divorced Grace Wright, the neurotic narrator of Doering’s promising debut, has moved with her two small children to Saint’s Crossing, “a neighborhood of families, young and old” that seems safe to her. When she learns that her neighbor, Leland Ernest, is a suspect in the disappearance of five-year-old Ava Boone six months earlier, she starts watching a video of Ava singing and dancing that the girl’s older brother made and posted on YouTube (and was later played in news stories after she went missing), which fuel her growing obsession with Ava and Leland. One day, she thinks she sees Ava in Leland’s house, and, after breaking into the place, she finds children’s toys there. Certain that Leland is the culprit, Grace becomes even more worried about her children. One night, she awakes in her bathtub, fully dressed, and has vivid flashes of a killing. A subsequent murder heightens her fears. For all her anxieties, Grace can be funny about her shortcomings and is capable of laugh-out-loud moments of sarcasm. Imaginative prose is a plus (“My mind is a snow globe in the hands of a toddler who’s shitfaced on apple juice”). Readers will be curious to see what this talented author comes up with next. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary.