'Owen Mann is charming, privileged, and chronically dissatisfied. Luna Grey is secretive, cautious, and pragmatic. Despite their differences, they begin forming a bond the moment they meet in college. Their names soon become indivisible--Owen and Luna, Luna and Owen--and stay that way even after an unexplained death rocks their social circle.
'Years later, they're still best friends when Luna finds Owen's wife brutally murdered. The police investigation sheds some light on long-hidden secrets, but it can't penetrate the wall of mystery that surrounds Owen. To get to the heart of what happened and why, Luna has to dig up the one secret she's spent her whole life burying.'
The Accomplice is the latest mystery thriller from Lisa Lutz and Titan Books, and it gives readers something a bit special as you don't just get one mystery in this book, but quite a few.
The story follows Luna Grey and Owen Mann, two people who've been friends since they met in college. The two of them quickly form a strong friendship, and become inescapable parts of each others lives. People expect them as a pair, they question why the two of them aren't together romantically, but Luna and Owen are simply just friends.
After knowing each other for nearly two decades the two of them are still in each others lives, living a few houses away from each other, and still being the best of friends. Yes, it might put a little strain on their relationships with their partners, but everyone understands that they're a package deal. When Luna goes out for a run the morning after Owen's wife, Irene, confides in her that Owen's having an affair, Luna discovers Irene's body. The police begin their investigation into the murder, checking to see if Owen may have killed his wife, but Luna is sure that he had nothing to do with it; just as she was sure he had nothing to do with the death of his girlfriend back in college. As the investigation continues, memories of the last time two two of them were connected to a tragic death begins to surface, old wounds get reopened, and their relationship gets put to the test.
I really enjoyed The Accomplice. It felt intriguing straight from the off thanks to the relationship between Luna and Owen. Whilst the story is about the death of Irene and the events that come from that, a big focus of the book (the main focus really) is these two people. As much time is given to their relationship as there is to the two deaths, and the book delves deep into friendship, trust, and toxic relationships. And yes, I said two deaths, as the book doesn't just contain the one murder mystery.
The narrative gets split across two different timelines throughout The Accomplice, alternating between Owen and Luna's time in college, and their present time of 2019. In the present we see them dealing with Irene's death, their changing relationship, and the difficulties they both face; in the past we see the two of them come together for the first time, their friendship forming, and also what happened when Owen's on-again-off-again girlfriend Scarlet is found dead. Owen is, of course, a prime suspect, and we see the impact that has on his life back then; the way that everyone in college other than a handful of friends turn on him, how the Scarlet's family is out for his blood, and how it tests the bonds of his friendship with Luna.
These two interweaving timelines aren't just there to add an extra mystery or to show the strength of their friendship, but also helps to serve the present narrative. The people in the present have issues to deal with, personal issues that have hung over them for years; relationships that have never been the same. As we learn more context for this in the present time we get to see how it began as the past timeline unfolds. It becomes clear that the last time a tragic death plagued their lives it set off a series of events that would forever change them; and it's no surprise when the events in the present have a similar effect.
In a lot of ways the central relationship in The Accomplice is one that you'd want to aim for with your close friends. They love each other, they know what to do to help each other, they're there whenever they need someone, they do good for each other. However, I felt that the book was also a warning about how toxic such close relationships can be, how if you don't manage your behaviour right, if you get in too deep and don't look at more than just your wants and needs it can turn toxic and hurt others. Owen and Luna are no different to other strong relationships we've seen in fiction over the years, albeit with one big exception. There's no romance or sex between the two of them. They love each other in a way that you see in some of the stronger romantic relationships in fiction, doing awful things for and to each other, but its always platonic. And whilst you probably don't want to completely emulate their friendship it is wonderful to see strong platonic love depicted in fiction, as most writers seem to think that any strong friendship has to turn romantic or sexual at some point.
The mysteries of The Accomplice are really engaging, and not just the central ones of how these women died in the two timelines. There are multiple smaller mysteries scattered throughout the book that are just as engaging. Luna has something terrible in her past that she's trying to keep secret (something that I wished we'd gotten more of as it was an amazing part of the story), there's mystery around Owen's past with Irene, mystery around Irene's relationship with her step-father, mystery around why Luna's past relationship with Owen's brother soured. All off these little mysteries keep the reader engaged whilst the larger mystery unfolds in the background, and keeps the book interesting even in the quieter moments. And the central mystery, of who killed Irene and why has such an obvious, simple solution that once it was revealed I slapped my head and yelled 'of course!' for not having seen it coming. It was such a masterful reveal, at just the right moment, that it made the whole thing worth while.
The Accomplice is an engaging mystery story that takes a more personal approach to murder mystery than some other books. It doesn't follow the police and their investigation, and instead focuses on the human connections of the people whose lives have been forever changed by these tragic events. If you're looking for a character driven thriller with a good central mystery, this book is definitely worth a read.
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