MYSTERY

Follow Her Home: A Mystery

by Steph Cha
Minotaur: St. Martin's. Apr. 2013. 288p. ISBN 9781250009623. $24.99; ebk. ISBN 9781250023131. M
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A favor for a friend turns into a long, painful weekend for a young, directionless L.A. woman whose passion for the works of Raymond Chandler are put to the test in Cha's debut novel. Juniper Song (known as "Song") has been asked by her best friend, Luke, to investigate a young woman who may be having an affair with Luke's father. Song soon finds a body in her trunk and her closest friends and family are threatened. While piecing together the mystery, Song reminisces about what Chandler's sleuth Philip Marlowe might do in such a situation, and revisits the painful memories of the last time she played detective—trailing and confronting the man who seduced her underage sister.
VERDICT Like Chandler's The Big Sleep, the "whodunit" is really beside the point, and the work succeeds (and at times fails) because of the atmosphere it creates. Some of the relationships that are meant to be important, such as that of Song's two best friends Luke and Diego, fail to register, while Cha's examination of young women of Asian descent as objects of predatory fetishes (through the investigation of Lori and the backstory of Song's sister) are disturbing and compelling—propelling the mystery into its best moments. For fans of urban noir and of mysteries that address contemporary social issues. Cha is a promising mystery author to watch. [See Prepub Alert, 11/4/12.]
Reviewed by Julie Elliott, Indiana Univ. Lib., South Bend , Mar 01, 2013
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