Author Linwood Barclay’s “Not a Word” is a mystery/murder/suspense novel featuring a most unusual plot structure, relatively little blood and gore, and a small but fascinating family of main characters who are all flawed products of a psychologically disturbed past. The narrative structure of the novel cleverly wraps our minds inside a developing story of mental illness, obsession, deadly secrets, love, and hatred.
Usually, but not always, a first person narrator is the main character of a novel. In this case, however, that narrator is simply one member of the disturbed family, and his narration appears in only a few of the chapters. The rest of the novel is delivered by a third person narrator who is an almost omniscient but definitely not all-knowing presence.
That first person narrator is Reece Chartwell, who, on the novel’s very first page, tells a female police detective named Janice McCabe of his horrible discovery of an apparent murder-suicide that has occurred in the bedroom of his parents’ home. He has found both parents in their bedroom, his mother lying in bed, his father sitting up against the headboard; both dead. It appears that his father, Brent Chartwell, has murdered his wife and then committed suicide. And later, it’s discovered that he has left a suicide note apologizing for the terrible thing he has done.
The apparent murder-suicide is the central event of the entire novel. But it’s only the beginning of the terrible and very complex set of events which follow, events which have haunted and will continue to haunt the whole family. Reece’s brother is Holden Chartwell, one year older than Reece, but the one who must be cared for and whose behaviors must be consistently monitored. He’s a thoughtful and lovable young man, but childhood events have played havoc with his mind and his drug-addicted life. But despite those problems, his father, Brent, adored him, as does Reese’s fourteen-year-old son Gage Chartwell.
Reece’s and Holden’s mother is Catherine Chartwell, a fierce and stubborn wife and mother whose family is the most important thing in her life. But a close second is her need to maintain her upper class lifestyle regardless of familial problems. Her lifestyle has resulted from her husband Brent’s brilliance as a salesman for a pharmaceutical company called Wiffel-Smith, now chaired by one Graham Wiffel. The company had developed a pain-killing drug called Oxy-Mirac that had been hailed around the world as the most important pain-killer since aspirin. Its effect was like a miracle — immediate pain relief, no matter how severe the pain. But problems with the alleged miracle drug eventually arose. Its beneficial effect began to diminish if it was taken often, and the company, at Wiffel’s insistence, recommended simply increasing the dosage — even after the fact had been made clear that increasing the dosage several times would likely lead to death. And all too often it did. Thousands of users died, and Oxy-Mirac was, of course, taken off the market.
Brent carried terrible guilt for the rest of his life. He had made a fortune by selling death. Catherine felt no such guilt. She had gained the kind of life she had always dreamed of. So now we have been introduced to the entire star-crossed family: Guilt-ridden Brent, stubborn Catherine, crazy Holden, level-headed Reece, and good kid Gage. But there are several more important characters who gain in importance as the plot unfolds. One is a very troubled young woman named Alicia, who met Holden at an AA-type meeting for addicts. She and Holden become very friendly as they realize that each of their childhoods has been similarly horrendously affected by family problems. Alicia is quite brilliant and extraordinarily manipulative, a talent which she finds very effective in applying during her complicated relationship with Holden.
Another very important character is Dalton Crane, who had been a “fixer” for Wiffel. That meant that whenever Wiffel ran into trouble, Crane took care of the problem. He is a nerdy-looking glasses-wearing, slightly overweight guy, and his appearance is terrific camouflage for what’s underneath. He is an emotionless, immoral expert assassin. And he thinks Catherine is a fascinating woman. So after Wiffel disappears from the picture (suicide?), he decides to help Catherine in any ways he can; and we know all too well what his “ways” are. After the two meet, he is very active for the rest of the novel.
The plot now becomes a web of secrets, secrets unfortunately revealed, deceit, and suspense. And more killings. Was Brent really the killer/suicide murderer? And when we learn that the gun that was used in the double-death had also been used in an unsolved murder of a woman several years earlier, are we to believe that the present-day killer was also a killer in the past? Was someone else in the family somehow complicit in the killings? How does Crane fit into the whole scene? How do Holden’s psychological issues affect the search for the murders or murderers? What is Alicia’s participation in the mysterious events?
At this point, I’m going to give away some half-spoilers. First, and perhaps most importantly, Catherine is not dead. I’ll offer no more about that one. Second, the plot twists that are usually found at or near the end of a mystery novel are scattered throughout this one — but you can’t take each twist as the final word about that plot element. Third, and this one will be all for now, you must keep in mind that every family character has secrets which, when revealed, seem to give the reader real insights about that character’s fate as the climax and denouement approach. But in “Not a Word,” some of those alleged insights may lead you far away from the final destiny of that character. And I suggest that you keep in mind the very clever and informative title of the novel. When the secret keeper says to the listener, “You must never tell anyone about this,” the listener often responds, “Not a Word.” In this book, that response is all too often itself a lie.
Finally, when the mystery seems to be solved, a most unusual phenomenon occurs: There are two solutions. And they contradict each other. Detective McCabe’s solution – the one that stands as the official final word — depends, as she says, on Occam’s Razor –the simplest solution is best. The family’s solution is complex, complicated, hurtful — and correct. The Razor is not always the most accurate conclusion. and author Barclay does a brilliant job demonstrating that logic and simplicity can be combined effectively in a novel with surprise, coincidence, plot twists, and mystery. An amazingly clever trick of novelistic artistry.
Please note: This review is based on the final, hardcover book provided by William Morrow, the publisher, for review purposes.