After realizing I have about a month of book reviews written and waiting in my “scheduled posts” box and a lot more books to read I decided it was time to up the reviews to twice a week every now and then so I can actually talk about the books I’ve finished recently instead of waiting a month or two for the review to go live. So, at least for the time being while I have time to read lots of books for fun, I’m going to try and post more reviews faster. Now, on to what you’ve all come here for. When I first saw a review of “Claire DeWitt” (in one of four places, either the New Yorker, NPR Books, NYTimes Book Review, or “O”) I was beyond excited to get my hands on a copy. Being the punk-rocker I was in high school anything claiming to be a noir detective novel with a female heroine who acts like the love child of Nancy Drew and Sid Vicious had a strong appeal. Being the poor student-teacher I am today instead of buying this book instantly I waited to track down a library copy.
I’m glad I waited… What had been one of the most anticipated books on my summer reading list has become the biggest disappointment. I had hoped this would be the start of a favorite new detective series. I love old noir films and grew up reading Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, and Hercule Poirot mysteries. Claire DeWitt sounded like my kind of detective. Sadly the book just didn’t deliver for me.
Claire is a private investigator who has been hired to find a man gone missing during the Katrina disaster in New Orleans. Claire is the best in the business, but unorthodox and she uses a
Gran’s detective Claire DeWitt has been described as a combination of Nancy Drew with a Sid Vicious attitude and I couldn’t agree less. The noir aspects of the novel are there, but not done as well as I hoped and Claire DeWitt comes across more as a brilliant drug-addict than a detective. There have been many fictional detectives who use drugs to enhance their abilities, the most notable being Sherlock Holmes, but Claire doesn’t seem to have the detecting skills of a Sherlock and I had a difficult time believing she was capable of solving anything rather than just stumbling onto the truth. The clues are set up throughout the novel, but they aren’t really tied together and the resolution of the mystery seems to be rushed without much foreshadowing.
The concept of this novel is great and Gran has some brilliant moments. Her descriptions of the ravaged city of New Orleans and the emotions of the people living there post-Katrina, especially the ones without the money to rebuild or relocate, are done fantastically. Her writing really shines in moments like this and you can feel the truth in what she’s trying to impart. The relationship between Claire and the young gang member she meets, Andray, is also portrayed honestly and with great sincerity in the writing. As a book about life in New Orleans post-Katrina it’s excellent, unfortunately the noir-detective plot that’s supposed to be the central theme isn’t done nearly as well.
There are constant changes in time and perspective as Gran switches back and forth from present day, to Claire’s past, to Claire’s drug enhanced visions, to pieces of the book Detection by Silette which is Claire’s textbook on detecting. While these changes could have been helpful or given a glimpse into the confused mind of Detective DeWitt ended up just being sloppy. The book does one part of the noir novel well by describing the underworld with honesty and grit, but falls short on the actual mystery part of noir.
This book has some redeeming qualities that kept me from feeling like I’d wasted my time reading it, but overall I didn’t find Claire a convincing detective and the mystery wasn’t intriguing. The book is well written and Gran obviously has skill as a writer, this just wasn’t the book for me.
