When bestselling psychological thriller writer (鈥淭he Girl on the Train,鈥� 2015) stamps the cover of your debut novel with 鈥淎 Thelma & Louise for our times,鈥� your career is off to a fast start.
The same goes for the plot pace of Hannah Deitch鈥檚 book, 鈥淜iller Potential,鈥� which opens at a breakneck clip and doesn鈥檛 really slow down for about 200 pages. Evie Gordon is our narrator. She went to 鈥渁 liberal arts school, stupidly expensive,鈥� and is now working as an SAT tutor in pricey California zip codes. Her first sentence is a gem: 鈥淚 was once a famous murderess.鈥� The rest of the book reveals how she earned that appellation and the adverb 鈥渙nce.鈥�
The opening scene is at 鈥淭he Victor House,鈥� which Evie describes in great detail 鈥� its 鈥渓ive-edge table cut from Portuguese wood,鈥� the 鈥淒e Gournay hand-painted silk wallpaper,鈥� and the 鈥渁quamarine Moroccan tile in the bathroom.鈥� It鈥檚 where Evie discovers the dead bodies of Dinah and Peter Victor, the mother with her face bashed in and the father floating in a koi pond. As Evie flees, she hears a voice crying out for help and rescues a woman trapped behind a door under a staircase, before coming face-to-face with her tutoring student, Serena. Thinking Evie and her accomplice are killers fleeing the scene of their crime, Serena attacks with a lamp and the scene ends with Evie smashing a vase against Serena鈥檚 head before escaping with the mystery woman in Evie鈥檚 car.
Cue the Hans Zimmer soundtrack for the next 100+ pages as Evie gets to know her partner in crime, who doesn鈥檛 speak at first, traumatized by whatever happened to her in the house. Eventually we learn her name, Jae, and together they pull off a series of crimes, some petty (shoplifting, carjacking), some not (assaulting and shooting at a few men and boys who recognize them from TV). Throughout it all, Evie鈥檚 inner monologue keeps readers engaged as she ponders things like how the language of courtship (Chase. Pursue. Stalk.) mirrors the language of hunting. It鈥檚 clear after a while that Evie and Jae lust for one another and when that dam finally breaks, the novel takes on a torrid tone that feels authentic for two people on the run for weeks relying on only each other and their animal instincts to survive.
Of course, Paula Hawkins doesn鈥檛 blurb your book unless there鈥檚 a well-earned twist, and 鈥淜iller Potential鈥� delivers on that front. The final third or so of the novel is a real joy to read as Deitch fills in all the blanks using different narrative techniques. Saying anything more would spoil the fun, but 鈥淜iller Potential鈥� earns Deitch a spot on the 鈥渘ew novelists to watch鈥� list.
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AP book reviews:
Rob Merrill, The Associated Press
