Shut Your Eyes Tight by John Verdon

Shut Your Eyes Tight is the second novel I've read by John Verdon, after Think of a Number.   Both novels featured retired police detective Dave Gurney.


I didn't enjoy Shut Your Eyes Tight as much as the first novel.  In Think of a Number, I found Dave Gurney an interesting character, relatively young to be in retirement, adjusting to both that and his attempts to deal with grief from the death of his four year old son a number of years ago, which he has been able to suppress to this point by immersing himself in his work.


So when Gurney was self absorbed, and not paying attention to his wife and able to enjoy his retirement, I felt like he had a built in excuse that was being resolved over the course of the novel.


In Shut Your Eyes Tight, I found the character much less likable.  He barely referred to his four year old son at all.  Instead he dealt with issues with his semi-estranged adult son from his first marriage (I hadn't recalled the earlier novel indicating this was a second marriage for him, or anything about a grown son, though it could be I've forgotten).  To me, this seemed much more like immature angst, and his willingness to completely ignore his wife's happiness, concerns and requests didn't frame the character as a driven man, obsessed with his work, but instead as a selfish jerk looking to escape from his marriage.  His inability to acknowledge that he was in any way in the wrong is not the character I remember from the first book.


Stripped of its elements, the mystery was fairly standard locked room stuff, and I didn't find the solution surprising.  That being said, it was well written, and very readable.  If I was describing a comparative author, I'd probably say it's like Karin Slaughter.  The plots are intense, gory and grim.  The characters are not entirely likable, there's no humour or lightness, and you know it won't be an entirely happy ending, but it is compelling reading. 


My concern with Mr. Verdon (based on this novel) is that he views his characters not as real people, but as constructs to move his plots forward.  As such, consistency in motivation and action, particularly across novels, may not be his priority.  I think I'll need to read another to determine if this assessment is fair.  So I'd try another by John Verdon, but I'm a bit wary, and if I like Detective Gurney any less on the next try, I may not continue with his series.