THE WAKING by Mike Nichols June 2002 William Morrow ISBN 0-06-273423-7

The Waking is Mr. Nichols first novel. A novice writer he isn’t however. Like many of the mystery field’s best scribes Mr. Nichols has been honing his skills on the desk of his local newspaper. The result for us the reader is a very well polished and enjoyable tome. The Waking is part mystery, part character study. Written in a style reminiscent of Thomas O’Brien but very much Mr. Nichol’s own, the book begins with a husband sitting at home worried because his wife hasn’t returned home from a doctor’s appointment. Soon enough we learn, along with Will, that wife Sandy’s car has gone over a cliff less than a mile from home, apparantly attempted suicide. What would make Sandy an attractive, happily married , rich and successful lawyer want to kill herself? Or if she hasn’t, who would want to kill her? As Will allows us, through the first person narrative, glimpses of their marriage, which wasn’t quite as happy as outsiders thought, we see a glimmer of what may have happened. When the body of Sandy’s lover is found, murdered on the same afternoon her car went over the cliff we are perplexed. With a dabbling of clues and events scattered throughout the ensuing months, as Will waits for Sandy’s shattered body to stop breathing and events of that first afternoon to resolve themselves, we meet a great if not very likeable cast of characters and are faced with different levels of truth. The end? Frightening...
Highly recommended by this reader who I swear really is trying to help whittle down those TBR piles. Just don’t skip this one, you’ll kick yourself.

Ruth Jordan