Book Review: The Waking

Reviewed By: Ruth Jordan - RAM

The Waking     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Mike Nichols
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Legal Setting   Thriller
June 2002 William Morrow ISBN 0-06-273423-7

The Waking is Mr. Nichols first novel. A novice writer he isn’t however. Like many of the Mystery Field’s best scribes Mr. Nichols has been honing his skills on the desk of his local newspaper. The result for us the reader is a very well polished and enjoyable tomb. The Waking is part mystery, part character study. Written in a style reminiscent of Thomas O’Brien but very much Mr. Nichol’s own the book begins with a husband sitting at home worried because his wife hasn’t returned home from a doctor’s appointment. Soon enough we learn along with Will that wife Sandy’s car has gone over a cliff less than a mile from home and it appears it was attempted suicide.

What would make Sandy an attractive, happily married , rich and successful lawyer want to kill herself? Or if she hasn’t tried who would want to kill her. As Will allows us through the first person narrative take glimpses at their marriage which wasn’t quite as happy as outsiders thought we see a glimmer of what may have happened. When the body of Sandy’s lover is found, murdered on the same afternoon her car went over the cliff we are perplexed. With a dabbling of clues and events scattered throughout the ensuing months as Will waits for Sandy’s shattered body to stop breathing and events of that first afternoon to resolve them we meet a great if not very likeable cast of characters and are faced with different levels of truth. The end? Frightening... Highly recommended by this reader who I swear really is trying to help whittle down those TBR piles. Just don’t skip this one, you’ll kick yourself.

Ruth Jordan - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ruth Jordan - RAM