Nowhere Girl - Susan Strecker
Time files. After battling self-abuse (cutting, attempted suicide) in the aftermath of her sister’s death, Cady grew up and became a best-selling author… an author who writes what she knows: murder. She’s (unhappily) married to a bassoon-tooting psychiatrist she suspects is 1) ashamed that she makes more money than he does and 2) probably playing hide-the-salami with his waiflike receptionist. Because, although Savannah Martino was gorgeous, luminous, slim and lovely; twin sis Cadence was and remains the “chubby” one. Apparently epigenesis rules…
And then one day the policeman who’d been investigating Savannah’s death – now a (luscious) detective – informs Cady that he’s reopened her sister’s still-unsolved case. And almost the same day, Cady runs into the gorgeous dude she’d crushed on all through high school, Brady. Two hot men in a couple of days, and Cady unsatisfied with her Greg. Too bad she’s an overweight (sometimes just “chubby”), sad novelist – otherwise she might get laid.
As the reopened investigation grinds on, Cady continues to count the days since Savannah’s death (5,951 now). Her marriage teeters on the brink. Her recently-divorced brother sinks into a slump. Her would-be paramour’s girlfriend has a psychotic episode. She has multiple meetings with a sociopath serial killer. And she continues to look for Savannah’s killer, continues to count the days, continues to dream of her sister…
| Connecticut author Susan Strecker’s second published novel (after Night Blindness), Nowhere Girl is difficult to slot. My library classifies it in “suspense,” though it’s not particularly suspenseful. For my money, it slots more in the “yearning romance” category: Cady isn’t happy with her husband, and lovingly describes (in this first-person narrative) each contact with the two new men in her life, right down to their individual scents. In all honesty, Cady Bernard is not a particularly likeable person, no matter how hard Strecker worked to make her one. She’s whiny, for one, and self-absorbed for another. She bitches about the good Dr. Bernard’s foibles, but shows no evidence of being any better a wife than Greg is a husband. The husband himself is pretty flat, serving only as a foil for Cady’s unhappiness. And that secret longing for Brady and Patrick? Give us a break… |
As for “suspense thriller,” Strecker has a long way to go to master the form. There are way too many plot holes – for example, only an idiot investigating a homicide wouldn’t take the funeral guestbook into evidence! There are also too many coincidences; such as Cady’s accidental meeting with Brady – in a prison parking lot! – not to mention that they recognize each other! Strecker fails to provide any real alternatives to the person eventually identified as the villain, so the only surprise is the circumstances of Savannah’s death. Even that is, frankly, anachronistic (one of several anachronisms in the text).
On top of the novel’s weakness in the suspense genre, Strecker’s clearly writing an apologia for those “real women who have curves” – after all, chubby Cady is a best-selling author, has beautiful friends, is married to a doctor, has not one but two hot men who seem to be interested; even though by her own admission she’s fifty pounds overweight. Then again, she eats constantly (and poorly) and refuses to exercise, even sneering at her husband for running. Let’s get one thing straight: fifty pounds overweight isn’t “chubby,” it’s morbidly obese.
When everything’s over, Nowhere Girl dissolves in an unsatisfactory – and somewhat unbelieveable – conclusion. By that time, however, most mystery fans will have reached the point where they’re only finishing the book out of a sense of duty. I know I did.
copyright © 2016 scmrak
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