Jean Potts is an author I have enjoyed in the past and with today’s read I have now completed ten books by her. My two favourite reads by Potts are: The Little Lie (1968) and The Evil Wish (1962). The title, My Brother’s Killer, put me in mind of the biblical phrase from Genesis 4v9: ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ and looking back on the book I think Potts definitely plays around with the themes of this verse, treating it with irony at time.
Synopsis
‘Garth Sullivan lives in the same brownstone as his brother Howdy and his wife, Pamela. Garth once had a career as a woodworker, but that ended when Howdy accidentally caused the slicing of his two fingers. He once had Pamela, too. But now all he has is hate. A festering hate that only grows stronger with each dinner date. But Garth has a plan. It’s a great plan, a wonderful plan. All he has to do to rid himself of Howdy is to fake his own death, and wait for the perfect moment to kill him. Unfortunately, he doesn’t take Eunice into consideration. Eunice is their less-than-attractive neighbor, and she is in love with Garth. So when she sees him outside the building after everyone else thinks he’s dead, she vows to keep his secret. But some secrets just can’t be kept…’
Overall Thoughts
Within the scope of the ten titles I have read by Potts, I think this is the first time I have encountered a full-on inverted mystery, a structure brought to our attention in the very first line: ‘Gareth Sullivan decided to kill his brother on an evening that started out like dozens of other evenings.’ However, this being Potts’ I would not say this is a conventional or typical inverted mystery, with the author’s focus being directed elsewhere.
Potts quickly demonstrates the dysfunctional situation Gareth is in, and it is toxic to say the least. The loss of some of his fingers was his brother Howdy’s fault and because of this he has to take other work he does not like. Furthermore, Gareth’s romantic relationship with Pam falls apart and she marries his brother instead. Gareth is stuck living in the same building as them, unable to make to a clean break or start a new life for himself. But is that the full story? Potts picks this apart over the course of the novel, revealing Gareth’s own responsibility for the direction his life has taken. It becomes clear that he pushed Pam away, and similarly chose to stay put. The narrative definitely suggests Gareth had some control and direction over how miserable he became after his accident. And this is where the toxic element starts to creep in. For example, in a chapter looking at things from Howdy and Pam’s point of view, we have the following passage:
‘Why couldn’t he believe that the accident made no difference to her? She hung on and hung on, so sure that she could convince him. but he had seemed bent on losing her along with the rest; it was as if he found bitter satisfaction in driving her out of his life. And into Howdy’s. Into Howdy’s. That was the final twist, all that was needed to make the vicious circle perfect.’
It is through seeing things from different characters’ perspectives that we can piece together the true complexity of the situation. Nevertheless, even in the early stages of the story there is just something holding the reader back from fully engaging and sympathising with Gareth. For instance, we witness Gareth manipulating the situation with Howdy, playing on his guilt:
‘“Okay. It’s none of my business. But I’ve seen the way you treated other girls. You can be a mean bastard when you feel like it. I just don’t want it to happen to Eunice, that’s all.”
“If I’m such a social menace, why ask me down here?” Smiling pleasantly, he stood up. “Thanks for the drink. I’ll be shoving off.”
It was a tried and true gambit. Howdy shot out from behind the bar to grab his arm. “Now wait a minute. […]”
[…] In due time he allowed himself to be mollified, accepted the refill Howdy pressed upon him […]’
Between chapters 1 and 3 Gareth comes up with his plan to murder his brother. We are not told the details straight away, but we get hints of what the plan might involve. One key element revealed early in the story is that Gareth will begin by faking his own death, so that he cannot be suspected of the killing. Crime fiction has handled this theme in a variety of ways, sometimes using it as an explicit component in an inverted mystery such as in Ethel Lina White’s The First Time He Died (1938), but also more secretively within a criminal’s, victim’s or detective’s plans. Agatha Christie adopts this latter strategy in a few of her mystery novels.
Fate often plays a role within Potts’ fiction, in the manner of a Greek tragedy. In the case of Gareth his plan begins to unravel when one of the residents of the apartment block spots him watching the building. The resident is a habitual drunk who complains often that men are following her, so Gareth is not identified as himself, just as one of these men. It is just unfortunate that this resident points him out to another more reliable witness, Eunice.
Although Eunice accidently discovers Gareth is alive, she doesn’t do anything about it for some time and I was surprised by how little a role she has within the plot as a whole. It is in fact a new tenant who pieces the mystery together and is therefore the far more active character within the piece. Perhaps even more active than Gareth himself who is thwarted from finishing his plan. He too gets less page time than I was anticipating. But with a Potts novel unpredictability of plot is something to be expected. The finale of My Brother’s Killer thematically works well, but it was not as devastating as I had envisaged. I still prefer the ending to The Little Lie, which has a pitch perfect chill factor.
Rating: 4/5
Source: Review Copy (Stark House Press)