[b:Those Who Knew|38649811|Those Who Knew|Idra Novey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1523278416s/38649811.jpg|60261103] held my attention from the beginning with its first sentence: "Precisely a week after the death of Maria P. was declared an accident, a woman reached into her tote bag and found a [worn] sweater inside that didn't belong to her." She tries unsuccessfully to return it to the clerk in the store. How did it get in her bag? Who was Maria P. and what did her death have to do with the woman with the bag? There are lingerie mysteries, disappearing stains and ghosts. In short, pithy chapters, the author introduces a small cast of characters living in an unnamed island nation assumed to be in Latin America with its corrupt politics, disparate economy and striking students and its strong connection to the "northerners" assumed to be North Americans. A surrealist script for a play or two, and a journal feed the reader's sense of confusion and questioning. Lena is a key character and her friend and activist, Olga who runs a bookstore called Seek the Sublime or Die, provides a perspective to Lena's resentment of the abusive Senator who kissed her after she made her first Molotov cocktail. His viciousness and suspicious abuse of others threatens his office, although it's a stinky pig farm which topples him. One of my favorite lines: Olga to Lena "I think you're reading too much Saramago." Some rich food descriptions liven Oscar, the baker from the north. And this depiction of a failing marriage: "all that had been solid between them begin to liquefy, the edges of their marriage melting as if it had consisted of no more than a block of ice....[he] felt the drip, drip between them quickening." The book had some editing flaws which irritated me but the writing and pacing made for satisfying reading even with abrupt ending. ( )

"Those Who Knew" is an enjoyable read. Its suspenseful tale centers around a politician and the suspicions of an ex-lover of his who believes he has committed a murder. The story unfolds slowly revealing element after element of the politician's character rather than following the usual suspense story that reveals more and more clues about an event until the suspense is finally resolved.
The writing is good: characters are believable, the events plausible, the handling of details succinct and yet compete. I found myself engrossed in the story and enjoying it, surprised at how quickly I read the entire novel.
I originally planned to give this book a 4 star rating, but when I compared it to others I had given 4 stars to, it was just not up to their caliber. My two primary objections and reasons for the lower rating were that, while the story was suspenseful, the reader pretty much knows how it will turn out. Various hints and foreshadowing incidents reinforce the final conclusion about the central event of the story. The second thing that bothered me about the story was that the two mysterious events described in the beginning and becoming the foundation of why the protagonist felt called upon to reveal the politician's crime, if there had been one, were never adequately explained. There were explanations offered, but these explanations conflicted with the details of the events and were insufficient to explain and dismiss the strange happenings.
I did enjoy the book and it is pretty good, worth recommending in spite of its flaws, but just not as good as a book earning a 4 star rating ought to be, ( )

"Those Who Knew" is an enjoyable read. Its suspenseful tale centers around a politician and the suspicions of an ex-lover of his who believes he has committed a murder. The story unfolds slowly revealing element after element of the politician's character rather than following the usual suspense story that reveals more and more clues about an event until the suspense is finally resolved.
The writing is good: characters are believable, the events plausible, the handling of details succinct and yet compete. I found myself engrossed in the story and enjoying it, surprised at how quickly I read the entire novel.
I originally planned to give this book a 4 star rating, but when I compared it to others I had given 4 stars to, it was just not up to their caliber. My two primary objections and reasons for the lower rating were that, while the story was suspenseful, the reader pretty much knows how it will turn out. Various hints and foreshadowing incidents reinforce the final conclusion about the central event of the story. The second thing that bothered me about the story was that the two mysterious events described in the beginning and becoming the foundation of why the protagonist felt called upon to reveal the politician's crime, if there had been one, were never adequately explained. There were explanations offered, but these explanations conflicted with the details of the events and were insufficient to explain and dismiss the strange happenings.
I did enjoy the book and it is pretty good, worth recommending in spite of its flaws, but just not as good as a book earning a 4 star rating ought to be, ( )

It was an interesting premise with multiple twists and turns. The primary characters were enjoyable, though at times confusing and difficult to follow. The intriguing aspect of the book was how the author interspersed a play’s script, along with random letters to a known lover of a primary character Olga. I enjoyed the novel but there were too many gaps in character development for me or I just missed them, which was possible. Overall, I’d recommend it. ( )

A volatile, unnamed, South American island nation in the early aughts, recovering from a repressive regime that had been aided by the U.S. Lena finds the sweater of murdered student Maria P. (murdered, Lena believes, by her abusive ex, charismatic progressive politician Victor) in her bag. Did Victor commit murder? "Who wants to hear it? People are too desperate for a hero." Timely and intelligent. ( )