She belongs to us, an unnamed woman narrates in the opening paragraph ofLooker.
To our block, I mean.
And she lives just a few doors down.
Credit: Scribner
In such proximity, who wouldnt be obsessed with her?
Laura Sims debut novel is an immersive investigation of obsession.
Her unfiltered narration hints at a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Sims approach is not judgmental, however.
I am sick to death of women, the narrator says to begin one of the books sharpest passages.
I am not one of you!
Leave me alone, leave me to the straightforwardly horrible men.
Written in the present-tense first-person,Lookeris a wicked slow-burn without a clear arc to follow.
This is for the best.
True to its title,Lookerglides toward its ending as if eagerly awaiting the discovery of something ghastly.
There is a murder.
There is a skull crushing a punishment, as Sims brilliantly constructs it, for ones gentleness and sympathy.
Its shockers feel like punches to the gut, nauseatingly effective.
