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It's early 2003, and a Manhattan PI named Remer has a cheating couple under surveillance. He's using state-of-the art monitoring equipment, and the evidence that he's gathered will prove without a shadow of a doubt what the pair has been up to. As he's preparing to set up a directional microphone, he is ambushed by four men. Disabled by a 25,000 volt stun gun, Remer is taken to another location. One of the men informs him that he is going to teach him a lesson about prying into the business of others, of being a "voyeur." Using a soldering iron, the man brands a word into Remer's chest. Indeed, Remer learned a lesson. He quickly relocated to Southampton and gave up the private investigative business. It's almost six years later, and he now owns a liquor store. He has never returned to New York City. He mostly keeps to himself, although he has a relationship with a divorcee who goes to school in New York and comes to Southampton to work over the weekend. They have a standing date every weekend where they share some "blend," a potent hallucinogenic that Remer concocts, and make love. Although Remer and Angela clearly enjoy each other's company, there are no strings attached. Then the world changes, and Remer is thrust into the voyeur role once again. At the behest of Kay Barton, a female cop who is a close friend, Remer agrees to look for a missing woman, Mia Ferrara, who was once his lover. The client is Mia's mother. It's not an easy quest; Remer suspects more than once that he is being set up. He more or less witnesses Mia's murder but questions what he has seen. Could the situation be an elaborate case of insurance fraud? Or is the loving mother really not so loving and up to no good as far as her daughter is concerned? Together with Barton's lover, Tommy Miller, Remer reconstructs exactly what happened and why. VOYEUR is a dark and engrossing book. As the plot unfolds, there are several possible scenarios that could explain what is going on. There are times when it looks like Remer is being framed; he often engages in questionable behavior in order to save his own skin. After all, he is a man who has learned to adapt to survive. He's a fascinating character. Remer is not only a voyeur in his professional life, but also his personal life. He always seems to be outside himself. Clearly lonely, he doesn't want anything more than what he has. As a result of the branding incident, he is understandably paranoid. And yet, he is also quite surprised to find himself relating to Angela and wishing for more than what he has been able to give so far. Is it even possible for someone so damaged to relate to another? VOYEUR is an excellent book. The plot is nicely complex with psychological terror and suspense driving it forward from almost the first page. The strong portrayal of Remer as a hard man with an appealing fragility adds a wonderful dimension to what could otherwise be a very dark book. § Formerly a training development manager for a large company, Maddy is now retired and continues to enable the addiction of crime fiction fans as owner of the online discussion group, 4 Mystery Addicts(4MA), while avidly reading in every possible free moment herself.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, October 2010
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