Review: Memory, Madness, and Murder
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 29, 2013
Courage to Kill is a twisty, gruesome book revolving around a 20-something woman who is accused of murdering her father, whom she is estranged from since memories of childhood abuse have emerged. The novel has many things going for it; Ron Argo, the author, is an investigative journalist, and he has a taut, evocative way with words. He is not afraid to twist the narrative in knots in order to get at the ins and outs of suppressed memory and its reverberating consequences, and the novel rockets along at a break neck pace, which is quite a feat when experimenting with plot. Not so thrilling is the subject matter - young women remembering sexual abuse by their fathers, and details of that pop up throughout the book. As horrifying as it's supposed to be, it also borders on exploitation, and I'm not sure it stays on the right side of that line some of the time. Without giving away what happens, Argo is interested in the pressure exerted by actual memory as well as those that are suppressed, and the psychological effects of growing up without the love and nurture that we all should have. On the positive side, this is a crime novel that also has a journalist at the center of it. Meyers is an engaging presence, and his sympathy for the accused woman and willingness to engage rather than keep a journalistic distance is interesting an takes the novel in an unexpected direction. It's great to see Meyers is going to be the center of a series of novels - there's a huge scope of things the author could explore through him.