The Crime of Julian Wells is definitely not happy book. It is dark and if you don't watch out it will pull you down, too, into the depths of its evil premise. Reminding myself that it is only fiction, I kept my head above the water, read on and absolutely loved this book. Then I remembered that many of the characters and history that Julian, as an author uses in his books, is not fiction, but based on fact. Ilse Grese, Charlotte Corday, Oradur, Andrei Chikatilo, Elizabeth Barthory, etc. revolutionaries and killers, lurk on these pages. Once again, the book becomes quite a downer. Oh, my mood on this one, changes as often as I turn the pages. It just sulks with dread.

The Crime of Julian Wells is my favorite of Thomas Cook's books. This surprises me as each time I pick up one of his books, I think he can't top himself. But he has. His writing is descriptive, taut, tense and edgy throughout. Genre? It is billed as a crime novel, Cook himself does not like the term mystery. So crime, yes, but oh, so much more. Very psychological with passages that find me stopping to write down a turn of phrase.

At the start, Julian Wells commits suicide by rowing his boat into the center of a pond in Montauk, slashing his wrists, dangling them over the side. "He will make it clean. There will be no fuss". These beginning pages, setting the story, are quite powerful. Though Wells dies in this before chapter he remains a central character throughout as his friend, Philip Anders tries to make sense of his death. Is there something he could have said that would have changed this outcome? If he had been in the boat with Julian, were there words he could have said to save the life of his friend? The balance of the book is a study of the whys and wherefores of Julian's spiral downward and culminates in the closing after ending.

Below are just two of the passages I liked, and copied to keep:

pg. 130 Julian states "I often think of something Thoreau wrote, that although children kill frogs in play, the frogs die in earnest." Philip then states that Thoreau took this from Plutarch who took it from Bion. Seeking this quote I came up with ""Though boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest."...Bion of Borysthenes Regardless where it originated I like this.

pg. 240 Philip says this to Loretta, Julian's sister
"You look like you did the first time I saw you," I told her now.
She looked at me. "Hardly."
"No seriously," I said. "I once read that fear is the last reflex to leave us, but with you, I think it will be curiosity."
I should only hope this would be my fate.

The Crime of Julian Wells will stay with me I'm certain. I am left with much to think about and other avenues to explore. This is the sign of a good book for me. Once again, I end up feeling Thomas Cook deserves more readership and I hope others are drawn to his writing.

The Crime of Julian Wells is an absorbing read and I truly enjoyed this introduction to Cook's work. Cook masterfully weaves elements of Julian's past, his fervent belief that a father is the most important element in a child's life into a compelling and tense narrative that makes you consider the many angles from which Julian made such a spectacular misstep as the one that would cause him to take his own life. The novel is smartly written, and is a clever mixing of the history of infamous serial killers, the enigmatic nature of friendship and the fragile balance in maintaining dearly held beliefs. Phillip's examination into his friend's whereabouts and deeds also cause him to examine his own belief about friendship and hindsight cruelly illuminates his failures, far more than his successes.

I think Mr. Cook writes some of the darkest human stories I've ever read. this one is not one of my favorites.