Those Who Knew

September 10, 2018
Novey’s propulsive second novel (after Ways to Disappear) follows multiple perspectives of those affected and connected by Victor, a sometimes brutal yet widely beloved man in a position of political power. In an unnamed island nation in the early aughts, Maria P., a young woman who has been introducing the liberal young senator at his rallies, turns up dead. Lena, a professor in her 30s—who herself experienced firsthand the violence and unpredictability that simmer beneath the senator’s wide appeal when they were student radicals together—believes that Victor must be responsible for the woman’s death, and feels compelled to compensate for the decade she has spent in silence about him. While Lena obsesses over her allegation, a wide cast of quirky characters—most notably Freddy, the senator’s gay brother; Olga, a radical former exile and stoner; and Christina, Victor’s politically convenient wife—and their own perspectives help fill in the senator’s other crimes and shortcomings, as well as the circumstances of a changing nation in a changing world. Novey’s storytelling is taut and her diction sharp, and though there are some unnecessary structural turns (scenes from a play Freddy is writing about his brother, newspaper reports), the book nevertheless has a striking sense of momentum. Add in a slight and intriguing sense of the supernatural, and the result is a provocative novel that has the feel of a thriller.

Narrator Kirsten Potter lays out the plot of this novel in the no-nonsense style of a reporter. The story is one of political intrigue, power, and privilege. At its center is Victor, a young progressive politician who gets ahead by pointing out the corruption of the government while at the same time taking advantage of his position. Potter presents him as full of entitlement and bravado, ready to sacrifice his cousin and others without a second thought. In contrast, the other main characters are resigned to their inaction. Potter portrays them all as unapologetic and quietly convinced they have made the only decision possible. J.E.M. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine