Book Review - Keeper of the Keys by Perri O'Shaughnessy

Keeper of the Keys is the book I chose for this months book club because it had a great title and the summary of the book sounded interesting. Not to mention the back cover had many glowing words of praise from various reputable sources. In hindsight, some of that praise may have a very different context that what it implies.

Keeper of the Keys is the story of Ray and Leigh Jackson. Ray is a successful, if vapid architect, who has trouble thinking about anyone other than his neurosis. Leigh is his neglected wife, who has an affair with his best friend and business partner. One night after Ray and Leigh have a confrontation over her affair, she disappears. No phone calls, no notes, no body.... what happened to Leigh? Did she run away or did Ray kill her in a fit of jealous rage? Add in Leigh's former best friend-whom she hasn't seen or spoken to in years, the sleazy business partner, a strange Greek restaurant tycoon, Leigh's father- a retired sheriff, and Ray's mother- a somewhat mousy elderly woman. Along with this stereotypical assortment of characters add into the plot, Ray's obsession with breaking into the houses he lived in as a child and random storylines going no where that seem to arc away from the main story the author is trying to tell.

Sounds interesting, and one might believe USA Today's quote on the back cover "will keep you turning pages into the night." Or the New York Times Book Review, "a real puzzler, with twists diabolical enough to take to court." Personally I like the Boston Sunday Globe's take, "an ambitious, sprawling novel with a switcheroo ending." While the Boston Globe appears to be giving praise, having read the book.... I think maybe the context had a different meaning. It is a very ambitious novel, maybe too ambitious for these writers. They simply thew too many different elements and angles into this with no follow through. And it is sprawling, again the problem is it's too sprawling. The book is all over the place, and you never get a good connection with any of the characters, so you don't really care what the outcome is. The other problem I had with this book was the dialogue. It is very academic. For me, this read like a first time writing project in a college literacy course. I was very underwhelmed by the predictable and uninspired plot turns. Two out of five keys.

My group hasn't met yet to discuss this book and I will be interested in hearing what the others have to say.