The Real Justine

July 15, 2015
A few nights of passion ignite a man's obsession for a mysterious woman in this tale of uncertain identities. Recently fired from his longtime job at a prestigious left-wing charity for playing Robin Hood with funds that didn't belong to him, Michael Coolidge is slowly sinking into the depths of depression. His wife has left him, taking their teenage son, and now Michael spends his days drinking and moping around the sleepy upstate New York town of Annville. Things start looking up the night he meets the beautiful Justine in a bar. The two start talking-she tells him she's part of the New York City art gallery scene in town on behalf of a rich client; then one thing leads to another, and Michael finds himself blissfully ensconced in a "staycation" with the sultry Justine. She speaks solely in generalities he finds sexy and the reader finds annoying and also immediately suspicious-only Michael is surprised when she disappears after four days, leaving behind an incomplete phone number and no last name. Nine months later, he sees her again in the company of a man, photographer Desmond Tracey, who soon turns up dead of a suspected drug overdose. Michael, determined to rescue his damsel in distress, digs into the photographer's past and, making multiple improbable leaps of logic, pieces together a traumatic history for Justine-obviously not her real name-that's entwined with the power players of Annville. While there are a few genuine surprises along the way, most of Amidon's (Security, 2009, etc.) twists are telegraphed so far in advance that it's a wonder the characters don't see them coming.

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Starred review from August 1, 2015
Reality simmers and blurs before becoming sharply clarified on the last page of this compelling novel. Michael Coolidge can't get over Justine; they meet in a bar, spend four intimate days together, then she disappears. Nine months later, he spots her, in a violent argument with a man, and the next day the same mana photographer of some noteis found dead of a drug overdose. Armed only with some photographs of her, Coolidge eventually zeros in on his mystery woman and learns that virtually everything she told him about herself is untrue. Justine now claims that a powerful man damaged her badly in her teens and has hurt other girls in the same way, a story she wants to take public with Coolidge's help. But everything he learns from othersparents, teacher, doctorindicates that she is mentally ill and delusional. And Coolidge's backgroundnotably, being fired from a prominent nonprofit for misallocating funds in an attempt to do what was rightalso proves to be an impediment to going public. Amidon (Human Capital, 2004) builds suspense relentlessly to a climax that's not easily forgotten in this masterful exploration of discerning the truth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)