The Accomplice

When Owen meets Luna in a college seminar in 2002, he notes she "appeared normal... and even a bit square," but he also sees "a feral quality in her" and "a girl roiling with secrets." He's instantly drawn in, the same way readers will be by Lisa Lutz's engrossing The Accomplice.

Owen is a privileged rich boy while Luna is a girl with limited means from a broken home. Nonetheless, the two become inseparable as friends but never lovers. They share confidences they tell no one else, especially after a suspicious death occurs within their social circle. Seventeen years later, the two are still best friends, married to other people but living close by. One day, Luna finds Owen's wife shot to death, and the ensuing investigation threatens to uncover everything they've long kept hidden. Is it merely a coincidence that death follows them, or is something sinister going on?

Luna is another welcome addition to the gallery of protagonists that's become Lutz's signature (The Last Word; The Passenger): women who don't aspire to please anyone but are riveting precisely for this reason. Luna can be blunt and not overly social, but she's also the loyal friend one can always count on in an emergency. In understated prose, Lutz nails her precise and concise observations: "Vera, already deeply intoxicated, wobbled on her one-inch heels" and "Luna returned her gaze to the ceiling, because the ceiling didn't judge her." The Accomplice, with chapters alternating between past and present, takes its time revealing its secrets but, like Luna, it leaves an indelible impression. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, reviewer and freelance editor at The Edit Ninja

Powered by: Xtenit