The Lonely Witness by William Boyle

The Lonely Witness by William Boyle

Genre: Mystery/Noir

Publisher/Date: Pegasus, 2018

Summary:

Amy, a former wild girl, lives an isolated life as a Eucharistic Minister to elderly shut-ins in her Brooklyn parish. When one resident mentions that her normal caretaker, Diane, has sent her son to take her place for several days. Vincent, the son, gives the elderly woman the creeps. He claims Diane’s got the flu, but she doesn’t answer the phone when either Amy or the elderly woman call her number. Cue ominous drumroll. Does Diane really have the flu . . . or did Vincent kill his mother? Amy follows Vincent.

After Vincent leaves a local bar, he is joined by another man. Then the other man stabs Vincent to death. Amy, rather than report the murder, takes the knife and follows the man.

In the meantime, two people from her past show up: her ex-girlfriend Alessandra, who’s in town for a film audition, and Amy’s long-gone alcoholic father Fred, whom she’d written off as dead. Fred is now sober and wants to apologize to his only child; Amy, however, doesn’t want him in her life. She does want Alessandra.

As the aftermath of Vincent’s death grows increasingly complex, Amy must decide whether to tell what she knows or stay silent. She also finds herself at a personal crossroads: who is she? And is who she is now the same as who she wants to be in the future? Could finding this killer lead to her own redemption?

My thoughts

What worked for me:

Amy

She’s a flawed, interesting, and not quite sympathetic character. While she’s conflicted about her actions, but she gets a voyeuristic thrill from them. It’s a bit of excitement in her dull life. Trying to “help a little” as a Eucharistic Minister to elderly shut-ins isn’t as rousing as her previous crowd. She’s gay, though she never bothers to explain this to the elderly people trying to set her up with their grandsons/nephews/neighbors/random single males in their lives.

Early in the book, Amy recounts witnessing a murder. (This happens on page 10, so it’s not a spoiler.) As a young teen, she watched through a window as her next-door neighbor strangled a man. She never spoke up. When she begins following the killer, she never finds proof that a murder happened. She even looks forward to seeing the killer: it’s exciting when everything–her grandparents, school, church, life–is boring. If that doesn’t pique your interest in this character, I’m not certain what will.

The tone

Boyle constantly increases the creepiness level in the story. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any creepier, it did. Even reading the ending first didn’t lessen the tension and didn’t take away the chilling, ominous feeling covering me while I read.

The setting

I was impressed by how well Boyle used the Brooklyn setting. With it, he creates a mood of despair and brokenness, of thwarted dreams and a dying, forgotten place filled with forgotten people. It’s the former home of Amy’s ex-girlfriend, who was desperate to leave and when she returns, feels trapped in it again. Yet Amy chooses to move here.

The Catholicism/saints motifs

(Remember, I have a degree in English, so I geek out about literary symbolism.)

Boyle does a great job with this one. From St. Therese, who inspires Amy to “help a little”, to the priest’s admonitions to give her father a second chance, to the St. Joan medal she filches, intending to give it to her ex-girlfriend: it works to add depth and dimension to the characters and the story.

The ending

(No spoilers!)

It might not be the ending that I want, but it works. Amy has grown as a character. The loose threads are mostly tied and clipped. The other characters are accounted for. It’s a satisfying ending.

What didn’t work for me:

I can’t think of anything. I truly enjoyed this book!

That’s interesting to me, as I usually dislike noir as a subgenre. It’s too cynical. The protagonists remind me too much of myself on a bad mental health binge, making all the wrong choices in life. (Don’t ask.) Watching people screw up their lives is too darned depressing. Whenever I read a novel in this subgenre, I feel like the author and I are pitted against each other: will the strength of the story win, or will the book only confirm my prejudice against the genre? I typically give up after a few chapters.

So, Meredith, you ask, why’d you read this book? 

The cover. It hit all the right notes for me, and that was enough to entice me to open the cover and read the story.

Despite the distinctly noir tone of the novel, despite the cynicism and fatality of Amy’s views, despite all that, Boyle won: I flew through this story. I grew to care about Amy, even when she was at her most self-destructive. Bravo, Mr. Boyle.

Overall, this is an impressive book.

Bonus tip for writers from The Lonely Witness:

Make that setting work for the story.

I noted this in my review of Stephen Mack Jones’ Lives Laid Away. Setting can become a character in itself. Make it come alive. Make it work for the story and shape its characters.

What Jones did for Detroit, Boyle does for Brooklyn. (Note that both authors have lived or currently live in those cities.) Here, the despair and brokenness of this Brooklyn neighborhood feels so real, I felt like I was walking down those trash-littered streets with Amy. Alessandra was from this neighborhood; when she briefly returns, she realizes her presence here is a mistake. She feels herself becoming the old Alessandra and feels trapped, both by it and (I think) by Amy’s desperate need for something.

Boyle writes, “The avenue is crowded and alive, but it seems to be dying at the same time” (page 33). That contradiction fills the pages as the setting reflects and expands upon the complexities of the characters and story. Amy and the other characters often show a similar contradictions. Longing for a chance at redemption but unable to give it to others. Needing a sense of purpose (even if it’s just to supply batteries for a Walkman!) but uncertain what purpose their lives hold.

Letting a setting be generic, run-of-the-mill city/small town/etc. is a lost opportunity. So don’t waste it. Boyle is fond of longish passages of details, but they aren’t superfluous details. Each one feels hand-picked to create the mood and recreate this setting.

Plus, he hits all the senses: taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing. A few examples:

“Chicken and duck carcasses hang in the windows of Chinese restaurants” (33)

“Garbage is ribboned around telephone poles” (33)

Vivid, right? You don’t have to have long descriptions, just relevant ones.

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