THE DAMAGE DONE by Hilary Davidson

I was really impressed by Hilary Davidson's work after reading her suspenseful and surprising novel, Blood Always Tells, and her short story collection, The Black Widow Club. She's got a real knack for crafting twisty thrillers and her work is objectively entertaining. But this debut novel, the one that put her on the map, was a bit of a disappointment. And not because of her lack of talent. Some of it is because of my recent aversion to the repetitiveness inherent in standard mystery/detective novels. But much of it is also because it just got so damned boring. The stakes seem very low through most of this book, as we follow travel writer and expatriate Lily Moore as she returns to New York City to find out who murdered her sister. 

I normally gravitate toward elevated tension and high stakes, so reading about Lily wandering around asking people questions about her sister didn't really do it for me. For most of the book there's not much danger or even much intrigue, and I kept questioning why I was even reading it, unlike the other work that I've read from her, which was much more engaging. But this award-winning work was a relative hit so it might just be my taste at the moment. Davidson is still one of the better thriller writers around right now, so I'll chalk this one up to taste and possible freshman quality.

GRADE: C-

THE BLACK WIDOW CLUB by Hilary Davidson

I've been searching for more female crime writers that tell the kind of dark stories that I love, and in my search I stumbled onto award-winner Hilary Davidson and thought that this collection of nine previously published tales of betrayal and murder would be a good start. The main theme in the majority of these are tales of desperate women doing bad things, things like revenge, cuckolding, plastic surgery, and other kinds of psycho shit.

Richard sank to his knees. It was almost how Kelly had pictured him proposing, except for all the blood.

I can see why Davidson has gotten a fair amount of praise with her short stories. The concepts might be familiar to some but Davidson writes with a precision and a wicked little sense of humor that makes them special. There's a playful naughtiness to each story that would make Hitchcock proud and sharp twists that made me smile. All of the stories are equally entertaining and well-told but if I were forced to pick favorites, I'd probably say "Beast," "Son of So Many Tears," and "The Other Man." Hilary Davidson really knows her stuff and I'll definitely be checking out more of her work.

GRADE: A-