Page 9 - Palm City Spotlight - May '24

Palm City Spotlight, Page 9

Book Review

The Main Character So, when a year ago where she writes from cafes near the beach. She has now
I was urged to read a published her second novel, and it is clear that her first
By Nils A. Shapiro new author’s first book, success will not be her last.
Many years ago I read a murder mystery novel, Now, having just finished reading The Main Character,
a couple of the all-time I turned the first few I am reminded of what impressed me so much about
bestselling murder mystery pages reluctantly—but Goldis, and why I had looked forward to her next book.
novels by Agatha Christie was then caught up in Rarely in any work of fiction have I come across a writer
and decided that this what surprisingly turned who combines intricate and imaginative story lines with
literary genre was simply out to be an impressive an innate ability to narrate perfectly—dialogue so natural,
not my cup of tea. and intriguing story that and other actions related with such exquisite word choices
While my own personal deserved a rave review and that for me the loveliest part of this reading experience
reading tastes lean toward strong recommendation in was savoring the author’s writing style, prompting me
nonfiction, especially my book review column. many times to put the book down for a few minutes to
history and anything related The name of that novel reflect on precisely that.
to nature and a better understanding of the wonderful was The Chateau. Its Fans of Agatha Christie will be well aware that one of
animals with whom we share this planet, I do make it a author, Jaclyn Goldis, is a young American woman who her most famous murder mystery novels was Murder on
point to review several novels a year in consideration of practiced law in Chicago before leaving her job to travel the Orient Express, which was made into a film more than
this column’s readers’ more varied preferences. the world and write novels, and finally settle in Tel Aviv, once. Her readers will immediately recognize Goldis’s
nod to Dame Christie by setting most of her own new
novel on an Orient Express train!
But that is where the similarities end. Where Agatha
Christie’s story follows the usual plot—a murder takes
place and we must then try to figure out who committed
the dastardly deed—in The Main Character we are taken
on a very different journey.
I won’t reveal any more about that because I don’t
want to spoil your fun. Instead, I am forced to use a
phrase here that I absolutely despise: Nothing on this
ride is as it seems. (I once devoted an entire column to
how much I hate that phrase, which is used to promote
so many books and films by lazy advertising writers who
can’t think of more creative ways to describe what they
are promoting. But in the case of The Main Character it
is the most important element in the story line.)
The book gets its title from its theme: A famous
bestselling author of murder mysteries, Ginevre Ex, has
figured out that her biggest successes have come from
stories based on real people’s lives. So she hires real
people and pays them to become the main characters in
her books, interviews them extensively, then fictionalizes
their lives in novels.
Her newest main character, an American woman named
Rory, has just lost her job as an anchor person on a TV
news show and, as a double blow, her boyfriend whom
she was expecting to marry, has just broken up with her.
Some time after Rory’s in-depth interview relating her life
story to Ginevre Ex, she learns that the author has gifted
her with a luxury trip through Italy aboard the sumptuous
Orient Express train.
But when she boards the train, Rory is shocked to find
that Ginevre Ex has also arranged for the most important
people in Rory’s life to join her on that trip: Max, her
brother, whose pharmaceutical company is reportedly
about to introduce an Alzheimer’s treatment drug that
will help to cure his and Rory’s father and make himself a
billionaire; Nate, the man Rory loves who has just broken
up with her; Caroline, her best friend since childhood,
who works for Max and has had a crush on him almost
her entire life; and Gabriele, a handsome Italian to whom
Rory was once attracted.
As if that weren’t enough, Ginevre Ex has arranged
to have distributed to all of them advance copies of the
novelized mystery she has just written based on Rory’s
life, a tale that includes a secret one of the group is
hiding—and a murder in their future! But before any
can read the book, one of them has stolen all of the copies.
The story of The Main Character is told through the
eyes of these different people in alternating chapters—a
chapter from Rory, then one from Max, one from
Caroline, back to Rory, then to Ginevre Ex, and so on.
It is an adventure fascinating to view from each one’s
perspective. But you are advised to keep in mind my—
despised but necessary—caution that nothing on this ride
is as it seems.
If you enjoy murder mystery novels, The Main
Character, published this month, is a must. Even I am
anxiously awaiting the next stop on Jaclyn Goldis’s
literary journey.

See answer in this paper.