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The Crime of Julian Wells
With THE CRIME OF JULIAN WELLS, Thomas H. Cook, one of America's most acclaimed suspense writers, has written a novel in the grand tradition of the twisty, cerebral thriller. Like Eric Ambler's A COFFIN FOR DIMITRIOS and Graham Greene's THE THIRD MAN, it is a mystery of identity, or assumed identity, a journey into the maze of a mysterious life.
When famed true-crime writer Julian Wells' body if found in a boat drifting on a Montauk pond, the question is not how he died, but why?
The death is obviously a suicide. But why would Julian Wells have taken his own life? And was this his only crime? These are the questions that first intrigue and then obsess Philip Anders, Wells' best friend and the chief defender of both his moral and his literary legacies.
Anders' increasingly passionate and dangerous quest to answer these questions becomes a journey into a haunted life, one marked by travel, learning, achievement and adventure, a life that should have been celebrated, but whose lonely end points to terrors still unknown.
Spanning four decades and traversing three continents, THE CRIME OF JULIAN WELLS is a journey into one man's heart of darkness than ends in a blaze of light.
When famed true-crime writer Julian Wells' body if found in a boat drifting on a Montauk pond, the question is not how he died, but why?
The death is obviously a suicide. But why would Julian Wells have taken his own life? And was this his only crime? These are the questions that first intrigue and then obsess Philip Anders, Wells' best friend and the chief defender of both his moral and his literary legacies.
Anders' increasingly passionate and dangerous quest to answer these questions becomes a journey into a haunted life, one marked by travel, learning, achievement and adventure, a life that should have been celebrated, but whose lonely end points to terrors still unknown.
Spanning four decades and traversing three continents, THE CRIME OF JULIAN WELLS is a journey into one man's heart of darkness than ends in a blaze of light.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published August 7, 2012
39 people are currently reading
846 people want to read
About the author
Thomas H. Cook
96 books353 followersThere is more than one author with this name on Goodreads.
Thomas H. Cook has been praised by critics for his attention to psychology and the lyrical nature of his prose. He is the author of more than 30 critically-acclaimed fiction books, including works of true crime. Cook published his first novel, Blood Innocents, in 1980. Cook published steadily through the 1980s, penning such works as the Frank Clemons trilogy, a series of mysteries starring a jaded cop.
He found breakout success with The Chatham School Affair (1996), which won an Edgar Award for best novel. Besides mysteries, Cook has written two true-crime books including the Edgar-nominated Blood Echoes (1993). He lives and works in New York City.
Awards
Edgar Allan Poe – Best Novel – The Chatham School Affair
Barry Award – Best Novel – Red Leaves
Martin Beck Award of the Swedish Academy of Detection – The Chatham School Affair
Martin Beck Award of the Swedish Academy of Detection – Red Leaves
Herodotus Prize – Fatherhood
Thomas H. Cook has been praised by critics for his attention to psychology and the lyrical nature of his prose. He is the author of more than 30 critically-acclaimed fiction books, including works of true crime. Cook published his first novel, Blood Innocents, in 1980. Cook published steadily through the 1980s, penning such works as the Frank Clemons trilogy, a series of mysteries starring a jaded cop.
He found breakout success with The Chatham School Affair (1996), which won an Edgar Award for best novel. Besides mysteries, Cook has written two true-crime books including the Edgar-nominated Blood Echoes (1993). He lives and works in New York City.
Awards
Edgar Allan Poe – Best Novel – The Chatham School Affair
Barry Award – Best Novel – Red Leaves
Martin Beck Award of the Swedish Academy of Detection – The Chatham School Affair
Martin Beck Award of the Swedish Academy of Detection – Red Leaves
Herodotus Prize – Fatherhood
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews
April 8, 2016
Well, that was pretentious.
Extended version: I didn’t get too far into this. Extremely early on comes this line, and I noted it wondering if it might be a pre-emptive strike: “I, the stay-at-home literary critic, whose primary gift was in dissecting novels that, no matter how awful, were certainly beyond my own creative powers.” Well, pttthhpf to you too.
I couldn’t get comfortable with the writing, or even reach an agreement where I acceded to be uncomfortable. It was more like a stylized play than dialogue between two people who are – I assume? - supposed to be realistic:
“Not enough to have saved him, evidently,” I answered. “Which means I’ll always be silent in that boat.” She looked up at me. “I guess we all leave a trail of little pebbles scattered on the forest floor,” she said. “But I’ll always wonder where those pebbles would have led to with Julian.”
In fact, all through the short few pages I tried, I argued with the book via Kindle.
Narrator: “But why was I recounting Julian’s personal history? I wondered. What good would it do now?”
Well, duh, you’re informing the reader.
“He had always been impatient with my bookish talk”
That will happen when your every sentence carries an allusion.
“Julian had come across the case of Antonis Daglis, the otherwise nondescript truck driver who had murdered several prostitutes. For Julian, such ordinary murderers were of no interest. Tracing their crimes, he said one day while we drank ouzo in an Athens taverna, was like following a shark through murky waters, dully recording that it ate this fish, then that one. It was evil he was after…”
Killing prostitutes wasn't evil enough?
It was all highly self-conscious, presenting the story self-depracatingly and defensively and rather arrogantly all at once. I don’t know if that was the voice of the protagonist or of the author – but either way it got old very quickly.
Extended version: I didn’t get too far into this. Extremely early on comes this line, and I noted it wondering if it might be a pre-emptive strike: “I, the stay-at-home literary critic, whose primary gift was in dissecting novels that, no matter how awful, were certainly beyond my own creative powers.” Well, pttthhpf to you too.
I couldn’t get comfortable with the writing, or even reach an agreement where I acceded to be uncomfortable. It was more like a stylized play than dialogue between two people who are – I assume? - supposed to be realistic:
“Not enough to have saved him, evidently,” I answered. “Which means I’ll always be silent in that boat.” She looked up at me. “I guess we all leave a trail of little pebbles scattered on the forest floor,” she said. “But I’ll always wonder where those pebbles would have led to with Julian.”
In fact, all through the short few pages I tried, I argued with the book via Kindle.
Narrator: “But why was I recounting Julian’s personal history? I wondered. What good would it do now?”
Well, duh, you’re informing the reader.
“He had always been impatient with my bookish talk”
That will happen when your every sentence carries an allusion.
“Julian had come across the case of Antonis Daglis, the otherwise nondescript truck driver who had murdered several prostitutes. For Julian, such ordinary murderers were of no interest. Tracing their crimes, he said one day while we drank ouzo in an Athens taverna, was like following a shark through murky waters, dully recording that it ate this fish, then that one. It was evil he was after…”
Killing prostitutes wasn't evil enough?
It was all highly self-conscious, presenting the story self-depracatingly and defensively and rather arrogantly all at once. I don’t know if that was the voice of the protagonist or of the author – but either way it got old very quickly.
September 4, 2012
The Crime of Julian Wells is definitely not happy book. It is dark and if you don't watch out it will pull you down, too, into the depths of its evil premise. Reminding myself that it is only fiction, I kept my head above the water, read on and absolutely loved this book. Then I remembered that many of the characters and history that Julian, as an author uses in his books, is not fiction, but based on fact. Ilse Grese, Charlotte Corday, Oradur, Andrei Chikatilo, Elizabeth Barthory, etc. revolutionaries and killers, lurk on these pages. Once again, the book becomes quite a downer. Oh, my mood on this one, changes as often as I turn the pages. It just sulks with dread.
The Crime of Julian Wells is my favorite of Thomas Cook's books. This surprises me as each time I pick up one of his books, I think he can't top himself. But he has. His writing is descriptive, taut, tense and edgy throughout. Genre? It is billed as a crime novel, Cook himself does not like the term mystery. So crime, yes, but oh, so much more. Very psychological with passages that find me stopping to write down a turn of phrase.
At the start, Julian Wells commits suicide by rowing his boat into the center of a pond in Montauk, slashing his wrists, dangling them over the side. "He will make it clean. There will be no fuss". These beginning pages, setting the story, are quite powerful. Though Wells dies in this before chapter he remains a central character throughout as his friend, Philip Anders tries to make sense of his death. Is there something he could have said that would have changed this outcome? If he had been in the boat with Julian, were there words he could have said to save the life of his friend? The balance of the book is a study of the whys and wherefores of Julian's spiral downward and culminates in the closing after ending.
Below are just two of the passages I liked, and copied to keep:
pg. 130 Julian states "I often think of something Thoreau wrote, that although children kill frogs in play, the frogs die in earnest." Philip then states that Thoreau took this from Plutarch who took it from Bion. Seeking this quote I came up with ""Though boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest."...Bion of Borysthenes Regardless where it originated I like this.
pg. 240 Philip says this to Loretta, Julian's sister
"You look like you did the first time I saw you," I told her now.
She looked at me. "Hardly."
"No seriously," I said. "I once read that fear is the last reflex to leave us, but with you, I think it will be curiosity."
I should only hope this would be my fate.
The Crime of Julian Wells will stay with me I'm certain. I am left with much to think about and other avenues to explore. This is the sign of a good book for me. Once again, I end up feeling Thomas Cook deserves more readership and I hope others are drawn to his writing.
The Crime of Julian Wells is my favorite of Thomas Cook's books. This surprises me as each time I pick up one of his books, I think he can't top himself. But he has. His writing is descriptive, taut, tense and edgy throughout. Genre? It is billed as a crime novel, Cook himself does not like the term mystery. So crime, yes, but oh, so much more. Very psychological with passages that find me stopping to write down a turn of phrase.
At the start, Julian Wells commits suicide by rowing his boat into the center of a pond in Montauk, slashing his wrists, dangling them over the side. "He will make it clean. There will be no fuss". These beginning pages, setting the story, are quite powerful. Though Wells dies in this before chapter he remains a central character throughout as his friend, Philip Anders tries to make sense of his death. Is there something he could have said that would have changed this outcome? If he had been in the boat with Julian, were there words he could have said to save the life of his friend? The balance of the book is a study of the whys and wherefores of Julian's spiral downward and culminates in the closing after ending.
Below are just two of the passages I liked, and copied to keep:
pg. 130 Julian states "I often think of something Thoreau wrote, that although children kill frogs in play, the frogs die in earnest." Philip then states that Thoreau took this from Plutarch who took it from Bion. Seeking this quote I came up with ""Though boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest."...Bion of Borysthenes Regardless where it originated I like this.
pg. 240 Philip says this to Loretta, Julian's sister
"You look like you did the first time I saw you," I told her now.
She looked at me. "Hardly."
"No seriously," I said. "I once read that fear is the last reflex to leave us, but with you, I think it will be curiosity."
I should only hope this would be my fate.
The Crime of Julian Wells will stay with me I'm certain. I am left with much to think about and other avenues to explore. This is the sign of a good book for me. Once again, I end up feeling Thomas Cook deserves more readership and I hope others are drawn to his writing.
September 9, 2013
I feel like Thomas Cook had a big jar of fortune cookies on his desk and every time a character mused, "I remember Julian once said...." he pulled one out and wrote down whatever pithy saying lurked inside on the little strip of paper. Julian was a fountain of profound thoughts, it seems. Never once said anything mundane like "I think I'm a little drunk" or "We're out of toilet paper", like us regular folk. No, everything that fell out of Julian's mouth was pure philosophical gold.
I am sad. Sad because I loved (most of) Thomas C. Cook's earlier novels and was hoping this would be more of the same, but it just felt flat and dull to me. Even the "twist" at the end was uninteresting. I think it was all the bloody politics that undid me--yawn. And Julian. What a tedious, brooding bore. Even his apartment in Paris was predictably depressing and existential. Because I could not care for Julian, I could not relate to the bland narrator's obsession with him or buy into all the high-intrigue jetting all over the globe to discover whatever it was that destroyed him.
I am wishing for better luck with the other Cook novel I purchased at the same time, Sandrine's Case.
I am sad. Sad because I loved (most of) Thomas C. Cook's earlier novels and was hoping this would be more of the same, but it just felt flat and dull to me. Even the "twist" at the end was uninteresting. I think it was all the bloody politics that undid me--yawn. And Julian. What a tedious, brooding bore. Even his apartment in Paris was predictably depressing and existential. Because I could not care for Julian, I could not relate to the bland narrator's obsession with him or buy into all the high-intrigue jetting all over the globe to discover whatever it was that destroyed him.
I am wishing for better luck with the other Cook novel I purchased at the same time, Sandrine's Case.
February 2, 2025
With its dark pathos, Cook’s signature probing into the heart of darkness, a mystery (not your genre mystery or thriller — not in the least!) or enigma, circling around the drain of Argentina’s Dirty War (and other atrocities) — a fabulous read…, intelligent, dark, full of psychological insight, a story perched on History’s abyss…
Cook is a vastly underappreciated writer, in my opinion. Partially because he cannot be categorized. He certainly cannot be dismissed as merely a “genre writer”. I am surprised at the low GR rating given to this book. It is quite mistaken.
Cook is a vastly underappreciated writer, in my opinion. Partially because he cannot be categorized. He certainly cannot be dismissed as merely a “genre writer”. I am surprised at the low GR rating given to this book. It is quite mistaken.
September 2, 2013
This was a bad novel. Stunningly awful. Please do yourself a favor and do not read this book (thank me later). Early on, I plowed through, thinking that the story would pick up, as suspense novels with slow starts are wont to do. Then I continued reading because I thought the end might be interesting. When it became apparent that even the most thrilling twist would not be worth reading this drivel, it became a battle of the wills, to see if I could endure until the end. It boggles the mind that Thomas H. Cook continues to produce novels year after year, presumably because people are buying them.
Please don't get me wrong. I enjoy many an author that the critics despise. Dan Brown's newest thriller? Sign me up! This is not me being elitist looking down on some popular author; this was a genuine waste of time with no redeeming value whatsoever (boring plot, unredeemable characters, even Cook's stab at romance between two characters was almost laughably (please hold while I consult a thesaurus) dreadful).
Speaking of critics, the narrator's career as a literary reviewer is perhaps what sets this novel down such a tortuous path. It allows Cook to reference other novels, in a way he surely must think is erudite, but actually comes off as literary snobbery. For instance: "The road ...[was] burrowing into the depths in a way that did indeed remind me of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Kurtz had gone far upriver to the Inner Station, as Conrad had so metaphorically called it, deep into the savage heart of things, and there, amid that splendor, created a landscape that in all the world had most resembled hell." Or, "AS a literary route toward dark discoveries this one was way too familiar, trod, as it were, by Oedipus."
The narrator frequently "winks" at the reader, repeatedly making observations about what's happening with the preface, "In a novel." As in, "In a novel, it would have been Marisol, of course, this sadly broken woman." Cook must have thought this was terribly clever, when in fact, my poor Nook is terribly lucky that it survived this tripe without suffering bodily harm.
About that attempt at character development between the narrator and Julian Wells' sister, I will let you decide if my description of "laughably dreadful" is accurate:
By all means, if you want to read nearly 300 pages of similarly scintillating prose, you should pick up this novel. But don't say I didn't warn you.
Please don't get me wrong. I enjoy many an author that the critics despise. Dan Brown's newest thriller? Sign me up! This is not me being elitist looking down on some popular author; this was a genuine waste of time with no redeeming value whatsoever (boring plot, unredeemable characters, even Cook's stab at romance between two characters was almost laughably (please hold while I consult a thesaurus) dreadful).
Speaking of critics, the narrator's career as a literary reviewer is perhaps what sets this novel down such a tortuous path. It allows Cook to reference other novels, in a way he surely must think is erudite, but actually comes off as literary snobbery. For instance: "The road ...[was] burrowing into the depths in a way that did indeed remind me of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Kurtz had gone far upriver to the Inner Station, as Conrad had so metaphorically called it, deep into the savage heart of things, and there, amid that splendor, created a landscape that in all the world had most resembled hell." Or, "AS a literary route toward dark discoveries this one was way too familiar, trod, as it were, by Oedipus."
The narrator frequently "winks" at the reader, repeatedly making observations about what's happening with the preface, "In a novel." As in, "In a novel, it would have been Marisol, of course, this sadly broken woman." Cook must have thought this was terribly clever, when in fact, my poor Nook is terribly lucky that it survived this tripe without suffering bodily harm.
About that attempt at character development between the narrator and Julian Wells' sister, I will let you decide if my description of "laughably dreadful" is accurate:
"We should take a walk once we're settled in," I told Loretta.
"Yes, let's."
And so we did.
By all means, if you want to read nearly 300 pages of similarly scintillating prose, you should pick up this novel. But don't say I didn't warn you.
July 27, 2013
I was not familiar with the author's work prior to this, this was one of those picked up on a whim to see if I can discover a new writer book that really paid out. Thomas H. Cook (judging by this book) is a terrific writer, very talented and capable of exceptionally astute observations on human nature, and this book was a literary mystery at its finest. At no point relying on cheap thrills, Cook takes us on a fascinating journey through the darkness inside humankind's minds and hearts. This is the kind of book the reader isn't merely entertained by, but is smarter for reading. When Julian Wells, a brilliant real life crime fiction writer who studies his subjects via thorough cultural and intellectual immersion, suddenly kills himself in the opening chapter of the book, his friend Philip Anders, with the help of Julian's sister Loretta, decides to find out why and thus begins a quest to unravel a decades old mystery that will take him across countries and continents and many dark histories and horrific atrocities. I was completely blown away by the quality of Cook's writing, it reminded me of Carlos Ruiz Zafon, which in my book is the highest of compliments. This book was so cleverly done and paced that the reader can really follow Philip's quest without being kept blindfolded or needlessly teased, but always maintaining the suspense, at a few points it even turns meta, which seems appropriate, since this is a story of a writer told by a literary critic. There is also a wealth of information on real life crimes here committed by such a wealth of individuals throughout history that would dispel any question of weather the nature of human evil is ever bound to a certain gender or age or era. Excellent book and a very good read. Highly recommended.
June 20, 2013
I am a great fan of Thomas H Cook and have read most of his books. I was quite happy to spend a little extra and order a hardcover copy of The Crime of Julian Wells from overseas because I didn’t want to wait for it to be released in Australia. I read it in two days but it has taken me some time to write a review.
Let me first say that I enjoyed the story. It had enough twists and turns to make it a good mystery. The writing is of the highest quality and lyrically beautiful at times. But there was something missing from the book as a whole and it pales when compared to Cook’s previous novels.
I missed the close, almost claustrophobic feel of Cook’s earlier books such as Break Heart Hill, Master of the Delta or The Last Talk with Lola Faye. I missed the small town atmosphere. And whilst the story is told in first person by the character Philip Anders, I never really felt close to him as I did with characters such as Ben from Breakheart Hill or Paul from Instruments of Night. I think it was this intimacy with the main character that Cook is usually able to evoke that was missing from The Crime of Julian Wells. It’s as if Philip Anders became lost amid the broad scope of the story.
For this reason I can only give the book three stars. Sorry Mr Cook.
Let me first say that I enjoyed the story. It had enough twists and turns to make it a good mystery. The writing is of the highest quality and lyrically beautiful at times. But there was something missing from the book as a whole and it pales when compared to Cook’s previous novels.
I missed the close, almost claustrophobic feel of Cook’s earlier books such as Break Heart Hill, Master of the Delta or The Last Talk with Lola Faye. I missed the small town atmosphere. And whilst the story is told in first person by the character Philip Anders, I never really felt close to him as I did with characters such as Ben from Breakheart Hill or Paul from Instruments of Night. I think it was this intimacy with the main character that Cook is usually able to evoke that was missing from The Crime of Julian Wells. It’s as if Philip Anders became lost amid the broad scope of the story.
For this reason I can only give the book three stars. Sorry Mr Cook.
July 5, 2022
This was slightly mixed. On the one hand, credit to the author for having done a lot of interesting research and chosen a variety of historical murders/atrocities to include as plot points. I appreciate too that this was a pretty quick read with a storyline that had sone cleverness and kept me interested.. just.
It was the style though that I found very strange. The author here weaves a mystery around the suicide of an author being investigated by his friend and his sister, which involves piecing together clues from the past and visiting people in locations in Russia, France, Hungary and Argentina - the locations of famous brutal incidents about which the dead man had written. It was all too neatly put together to involve these places and discussions of the things that went on there, the clues revealed were all a bit ridiculous in their subtlety and how they lee linearly to the next location, and this and the unnatural dialogue (everyone speaking like actors in a film/play - no short or simple dialogue) made this all feel very clunky and highly unconvincing as a story.
It was the style though that I found very strange. The author here weaves a mystery around the suicide of an author being investigated by his friend and his sister, which involves piecing together clues from the past and visiting people in locations in Russia, France, Hungary and Argentina - the locations of famous brutal incidents about which the dead man had written. It was all too neatly put together to involve these places and discussions of the things that went on there, the clues revealed were all a bit ridiculous in their subtlety and how they lee linearly to the next location, and this and the unnatural dialogue (everyone speaking like actors in a film/play - no short or simple dialogue) made this all feel very clunky and highly unconvincing as a story.
September 4, 2012
Seriously, this book is a stellar read. If you've read anything by this author, you know he gets into the human psyche with his work and here he's in peak form. It's a definite "don't miss."
I'll give a brief peek here; you can click here for a longer discussion.
Although there are some very solid mysteries at its core, technically this book is really not a work of "crime" fiction, so to speak. Philip Anders, "stay-at-home" literary critic and the narrator of this story, was the best friend of Julian Wells since childhood until the day Julian rowed himself out into the middle of a pond bordering his Montauk family home, opened his veins and bled to death in the boat. His death was a surprise to both Philip and Julian's sister Loretta. His decades-long writing career led to articles "about plague and famine and holocaust," and five books which focused on some of history's most horrific crimes and the monsters who committed them.
As Philip, Loretta and later Philip's father, a former bureaucrat at the State Department, begin to ponder the whys, Philip wonders if Julian's long immersion into human darkness might have taken its toll on his friend; Loretta believed he was "like a man in a locked room, trying to get out," and Philip's father thinks that "Julian had a lot of feeling...too much of it morbid," and that darkness was all Julian knew. As Loretta and Philip talk, Loretta informs him that she believed Julian was already on track for another book -- she had seen him looking at a map the day he'd died, the first step in Julian's writing process, after which he'd read all he could then travel to the site. The map, she says to Philip, was of Argentina, and a part of it had been circled. Julian and Philip had visited the area together some thirty years earlier, where they had met a lovely young woman who served as their guide. When Loretta wonders if their trip may have been on Julian's mind, Philip discards the idea because it was so long ago that they'd been there. But soon he begins to wonder -- was it possible that Julian's state of mind that day had something to do with that old trip? And what about the dedication in Julian's book where he acknowledged Philip as the "sole witness to my crime." What crime? What was the crime of Julian Wells? Philip decides he must act as Julian's friend and try to uncover the mystery behind Julian's death.
Very cleverly constructed, the novel takes the reader not only through Europe and Argentina as Philip follows Julian's footsteps, but also into a journey where the author explores such thematic issues as the nature of guilt, deception and betrayal, the various forms of cruelty and the hearts and minds of the people who employ them, as well as the meaning of friendship. Each chapter brings Philip closer to the truth, not only about the answers he seeks but about his friend Julian as well. Philip's travels also reveal the darkness and malevolence that take root and sometimes come to maturity in the souls of human beings. At the same time, his search will reveal that life has a "cruel randomness"; that it is a "lottery upon whose uncontrollable outcome everything depended."
The people in this book are terrifically and at times frighteningly well drawn, some of them have enough personality to send the occasional shiver down your spine. The Crime of Julian Wells is an incredible novel, one I absolutely recommend. People who are interested in Argentina's Dirty War would be great readers for this novel; historical crime buffs and anyone interested in the darker events in European history would also like it. It's not a cozy-type thing at all; some scenes are graphic although not terribly overdone -- considering the subject matter, it could have been much, much worse. The novel also ventures into the philosophical at times, something that might turn some readers off, but for others it might be that something different you've been looking for. Super, super book -- some of the best and most original writing I've seen in contemporary American crime fiction.
I'll give a brief peek here; you can click here for a longer discussion.
Although there are some very solid mysteries at its core, technically this book is really not a work of "crime" fiction, so to speak. Philip Anders, "stay-at-home" literary critic and the narrator of this story, was the best friend of Julian Wells since childhood until the day Julian rowed himself out into the middle of a pond bordering his Montauk family home, opened his veins and bled to death in the boat. His death was a surprise to both Philip and Julian's sister Loretta. His decades-long writing career led to articles "about plague and famine and holocaust," and five books which focused on some of history's most horrific crimes and the monsters who committed them.
As Philip, Loretta and later Philip's father, a former bureaucrat at the State Department, begin to ponder the whys, Philip wonders if Julian's long immersion into human darkness might have taken its toll on his friend; Loretta believed he was "like a man in a locked room, trying to get out," and Philip's father thinks that "Julian had a lot of feeling...too much of it morbid," and that darkness was all Julian knew. As Loretta and Philip talk, Loretta informs him that she believed Julian was already on track for another book -- she had seen him looking at a map the day he'd died, the first step in Julian's writing process, after which he'd read all he could then travel to the site. The map, she says to Philip, was of Argentina, and a part of it had been circled. Julian and Philip had visited the area together some thirty years earlier, where they had met a lovely young woman who served as their guide. When Loretta wonders if their trip may have been on Julian's mind, Philip discards the idea because it was so long ago that they'd been there. But soon he begins to wonder -- was it possible that Julian's state of mind that day had something to do with that old trip? And what about the dedication in Julian's book where he acknowledged Philip as the "sole witness to my crime." What crime? What was the crime of Julian Wells? Philip decides he must act as Julian's friend and try to uncover the mystery behind Julian's death.
Very cleverly constructed, the novel takes the reader not only through Europe and Argentina as Philip follows Julian's footsteps, but also into a journey where the author explores such thematic issues as the nature of guilt, deception and betrayal, the various forms of cruelty and the hearts and minds of the people who employ them, as well as the meaning of friendship. Each chapter brings Philip closer to the truth, not only about the answers he seeks but about his friend Julian as well. Philip's travels also reveal the darkness and malevolence that take root and sometimes come to maturity in the souls of human beings. At the same time, his search will reveal that life has a "cruel randomness"; that it is a "lottery upon whose uncontrollable outcome everything depended."
The people in this book are terrifically and at times frighteningly well drawn, some of them have enough personality to send the occasional shiver down your spine. The Crime of Julian Wells is an incredible novel, one I absolutely recommend. People who are interested in Argentina's Dirty War would be great readers for this novel; historical crime buffs and anyone interested in the darker events in European history would also like it. It's not a cozy-type thing at all; some scenes are graphic although not terribly overdone -- considering the subject matter, it could have been much, much worse. The novel also ventures into the philosophical at times, something that might turn some readers off, but for others it might be that something different you've been looking for. Super, super book -- some of the best and most original writing I've seen in contemporary American crime fiction.
April 12, 2017
One probably does not love every book written by a favorite author; that even sounds like an impossible task. This was not one of my favorite Thomas Cool books, although I will always enjoy his appealing writing style.
I did like the psychology involved as the book was an exploration into the dark mind of Julian Wells and dark it was, as Julian was a true crime novel writer and the crimes about which he wrote were the most horrific. I did think that perhaps too many torture scenes were mentioned and detailed.
I didn't like that the novel was a little too political (Argentina's politics) for me with time spent on the Argentinian revolution, the junta, the Dirty War, etc. and the incidents of torture were overdone, IMO. "Darkness was the only thing Julian knew." I also never felt close to Julian's good friend Philip Anders; there was no emotional depth there , and the resolution of the story was a bit underwhelming.
So, what was Julian's crime and why commit suicide because of it? SPOILER SPOILER:
Julian and Philip's father played a trick on Marisol, their Argentinian guide, a little conspiracy game: They gave her a bit of information about her beloved priest being arrested, she passed it on to bad guy Vargas, who betrayed her, turned her in, and she was badly tortured. The party-line was that she was shot; Julian never saw Marisol after her arrest. Julian thought of himself as a murderer, blamed himself for her death, and never forgave himself. He couldn't bear any longer, the fact that he had the crime bottled up inside and couldn't release it b/c of his promise to Philip's father and their "game". Julian's simple goodness turned on him and he chose death.
This isn't a book that I would recommend.
I did like the psychology involved as the book was an exploration into the dark mind of Julian Wells and dark it was, as Julian was a true crime novel writer and the crimes about which he wrote were the most horrific. I did think that perhaps too many torture scenes were mentioned and detailed.
I didn't like that the novel was a little too political (Argentina's politics) for me with time spent on the Argentinian revolution, the junta, the Dirty War, etc. and the incidents of torture were overdone, IMO. "Darkness was the only thing Julian knew." I also never felt close to Julian's good friend Philip Anders; there was no emotional depth there , and the resolution of the story was a bit underwhelming.
So, what was Julian's crime and why commit suicide because of it? SPOILER SPOILER:
Julian and Philip's father played a trick on Marisol, their Argentinian guide, a little conspiracy game: They gave her a bit of information about her beloved priest being arrested, she passed it on to bad guy Vargas, who betrayed her, turned her in, and she was badly tortured. The party-line was that she was shot; Julian never saw Marisol after her arrest. Julian thought of himself as a murderer, blamed himself for her death, and never forgave himself. He couldn't bear any longer, the fact that he had the crime bottled up inside and couldn't release it b/c of his promise to Philip's father and their "game". Julian's simple goodness turned on him and he chose death.
This isn't a book that I would recommend.
August 2, 2012
The city of Aurora, close to where I live used to have a literary festival in the summer, and I had the fortunate chance of going along with two of my very good friends, to see Thomas Cook on a panel of mystery writers. He was entertaining and a very smart sounding man. This book was at times difficult to read, while most of the action is of the inner kind, the book also related many of the most notorious killers of history and some of their notorious crimes. Julian rows out to the middle of the lake, killing himself and leaving his best friend and sister wondering why. Their fervent need to understand the state of Julian's mind, the friend at first alone and than the sister joining him, set out to retrace Julian's steps. Since he was a writer of true crime that focused on some of the most notorious of killers, this takes them to many different countries. For Julian it wasn't just the evil in people but the disguises they assumed to commit the acts, that was his focus. This is a literary rendering of the betrayal and the darkness that can consume a man's mind and lead him to commit the ultimate act of desperation. It is a puzzle that needs to be assembled and in doing so takes the reader to the many countries that harbored men who undertook the most horrific acts, from Chile to Germany and beyond. Highly recommend this excellently plotted and brilliantly paced book. ARC from NetGalley.
June 9, 2013
Disappointing effort from Cook. The story of a man who sets out to discover why his friend killed himself bogs down in its own self-importance and lacks the true literary weight that is usually found in a Cook effort. The narrative is repetitious with too many references to hefty phrases and sentences uttered by the deceased Julian that fail to create the sense of foreboding Cook obviously intended to result. The resolution of the mystery as to why Julian killed himself is rather underwhelming and not up to the usual standards Cook set in his prior novels. A slight effort from Cook that never finds its footing.
July 23, 2013
This was not an easy book. Suggest some background in the classics, and familiarity with philosophy, psychology and a big vocabulary to understand the story.
A morbid look at the prequel and after effects of the suicide of Julian Wells. Julian is a morose, well read depressive who is also quite naive. He's a writer of historical "true crime", focussing on serial killers and curiousity as to why as much as how they were driven to do it. And he becomes so wrapped up in it, he has to quiet the stories they tell.
Is that Julian's crime, that he cares for the pieces over the people?
A morbid look at the prequel and after effects of the suicide of Julian Wells. Julian is a morose, well read depressive who is also quite naive. He's a writer of historical "true crime", focussing on serial killers and curiousity as to why as much as how they were driven to do it. And he becomes so wrapped up in it, he has to quiet the stories they tell.
Is that Julian's crime, that he cares for the pieces over the people?
November 3, 2012
“The world has plenty of noise, Julian, but not many voices…. And because there are so few, each one matters.”
After 27 books (this is his 28th) you’d think that Thomas Cook would be a household name, at least if your household encompassed a library. Six of his novels have been nominated for awards, including Red Leaves in 2006, which was also shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger and the Anthony Award, and went on to win the Barry Award and The Martin Beck Award and his 1996 novel The Chatham School Affair received an Edgar award from the Mystery Writers of America. Still, he is denied that superstar status, which may be the only pure mystery associated with Cook.
Unfortunately Cook’s work is usually grouped as ‘Mysteries’ along side Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, and Patricia Cornwell and because his books don’t really fit into that crowd, he goes somewhat unnoticed. But his books are so much more than genre fiction. They are never formulaic. They’d best be described as literary fiction that uses themes from many other genres; mysteries, crime fiction, historical fiction, psychological thrillers and all to great effect. It would be easy to mistake Cook as an English mystery writer, but he is a native of Alabama. He spent many years teaching English and History at Dekalb Community College in Georgia, and served as book review editor for Atlanta Magazine. He holds masters degrees in history and philosophy and maybe this is why a number of his books have deeply knowledgeable historical backgrounds and settings and often dwell on motivations and psyches of the characters instead of stark action types of the ‘usual’ thrillers.
The Crime of Julian Wells is Cook at the top of his game. An elegant stylistic literary mystery, filled with twists and puzzles and deeply human, multi-facetted characters instead of action packed thrills and bigger than life heroes. It’s written in a classic style reminiscent of the best cerebral detective stories. Julian Wells shares one or two similarities to his author. Julian is a successful writer who suffers from that same failure of the marketing people to classify his work. In Julian’s case, he is often mistaken for either a travel writer or a true crime writer or a historical novelist, therefore his book usually only pay him enough to last the research on his next. He travels the world to half forgotten places to document and write about real life crimes, usually serial killers or multiple homicides; Paul Voulet and the atrocities committed by him and his band in Africa, Irma Ida Ilse Grese - nicknamed "the Beast of Belsen", "The Beautiful Beast", and "Die Hyäne von Auschwitz" -, warden of the women's section of Bergen-Belsen and convicted for crimes against humanity at the Belsen Trial and sentenced to death. Gilles de Rais a leader in the French army and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc, and his assistant (La Meffraye – “the terror”in the serial killing of children.
Julian, at the open of the story, has returned home to his Montauk, Long Island home, occupied by him and his sister, Loretta. This scene seems to find him tidying up family business maybe researching his next book (he is studying a map) or perhaps about to set out on his next journey and is leaving his home (he thinks to himself as he looks out of his study windows at a pond that he will “miss these things”). But it soon becomes apparent that his melancholy leads to a more final destination as he rows a yellow boat with peeling paint to the middle of the pond just far enough that he will appear small and distant enough that his sister can’t tell what he is doing or get to him before he can finish what he has set out to do. Once there, he slits his wrists and hangs his arms in the water.
The main mystery, from this point on is why? Julian’s sister, Loretta and his best friend, Philip Anders are left to speculate as to the reasons that Julian, who had always seemed so steadfast, would take his own life. While recalling a trip to Rome with Julian, Loretta recalls viewing the little piazza, the Campidogilo that looks so square, but is in actuality only designed that way by Michelangelo as a trick of perspective,“It’s distortion that creates perfection,” Julian had said. Was Julian’s life also a distortion and only designed by him to seem like perfection?” The only clues are the map he was studying before rowing to the middle of the pond - a map of Argentina with a red circle drawn around an obscure village – and the dedication in the front of Julian’s first book from years ago that Philip now pondered the meaning of; "For Philip, sole witness to my crime."
Philip, the son of a mid-level U.S. State Dept. functionary – as was Julian’s father who died young – and a literary critic and book reviewer who had purposely chosen a slow paced, unremarkable life – as he states late in the book,”…it’s mostly the fact that I don’t have any talent, …I don’t sing or act or play a musical instrument. I’ve read the great books, but I couldn’t never write even a bad one.” - while his friend chose to travel the four corners of the earth, rubbing elbows with evil and journeying into “the heart of darkness.” "Julian had a lot of feeling," says an old literary friend, "but too much of it was morbid. . . . Darkness was the only thing he knew." And Philip thinks, "It was evil he was after, I could tell, some core twist in the scheme of things."
Philip can’t help but wonder to himself, and eventually Loretta, if he failed his friend is some way by choosing to not stay close to Julian and in changing the subject whenever the conversation would grow serious. And could he have stayed Julian’s hand if he were in that boat with him. And what would he have said to him? And now rethinking that dedication in Julian’s first book, he finds himself drawn to discover just what this crime could have been. Philip sets out, first alone, and then with Loretta as a willing assistant, to retrace Julian’s life through the history and chronology of his books. He travels to London, Paris, Budapest, Russia and eventually back to Argentina, where shortly before starting his life as an author, Julian and Philip had spent a summer and had met up with Marisol, an English speaking tour guide, during the late ‘70s during Argentina’s “Dirty War”.
Along the way Philip and Loretta meet with, interview and research events and subjects, literary acquaintances, old spies and old criminals and witnesses to Julian’s life and writing. At first Philip feels out of his depth as a de facto-detective on the trail of a crime that Julian seemingly only knew in his own heart, but Philip comes to wonder if he, himself, might have been, somehow complicit in. And if so, then wasn’t he in someway also complicit in his friends decision to take his own life? Philip thinks at one point, "I was never trained in finding anything but metaphors and symbols." But he soon starts to find that Julian’s whole career might have been some soul-search for redemption, some quest to discover the effects on the victims as well as the motivation in the evil hearts of killers who often hid behind a mask of charm or whose evil was only revealed by circumstance.
Thomas H. CookAlong the dark trails of Julian’s life Philip and Loretta are led back to Marisol and Argentina. But Julian never had romantic thoughts for Marisol, who was apparently one of the ‘disappeared’, and one of the innocent as Marisol was not a political person. As they have discovered, Julian was more than he appeared and haunted by more than they were able to see, caught up in their own lives while he was alive. Did Julian discover that “Hell is not other people, but in opposition to Sartre’s famous line, it is what we do to other people.” And if so, then what did Julian do and to whom? Could Julian’s crime have been worthy of the death sentence he passed on himself. And to steal a line from Graham Greene’s The Third Man, is it true that “A person doesn’t change just because you find out more (about them).”
Cook weaves a tale with curves that only lead to more curves with literary references to such writers as Eric Ambler, Jorge Luis Borges, Joseph Conrad and Graham Greene – and this may be the only fault as the author too often reminds us at transitions in the plot that “in a novel….this would happen, but…” - as well as references to some obscure and some more famous serial killers and dark historical events. Cook’s prose are wonderfully wrought; elegant, and the plot intricate as it explores not just the history of evil men and women and evil deeds both great and small, but the cost to the psyche when we travel too deeply into ‘the heart of darkness’ and as Marlow felt at the end of that story,” …(he) is drained by the tale he has just related, emptied not of energy but of belief. It is as if the darkness he describes has dialed down the light in his soul.” It also is about how unspeakable crimes can be committed by ordinary people, especially when they wear a mask of deception, “It’s in all of Julian’s books. Deceit. The moment when the face of someone you thought you knew changes, and you suspect that there’s something terrible behind the mask.” Or the cause and effect of an innocent act, a game, and the damage it can do. "Like Orpheus, he had brought music into hell, and like him, he had died in a world that no longer wished to hear it."
The Dirty Lowdown
After 27 books (this is his 28th) you’d think that Thomas Cook would be a household name, at least if your household encompassed a library. Six of his novels have been nominated for awards, including Red Leaves in 2006, which was also shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger and the Anthony Award, and went on to win the Barry Award and The Martin Beck Award and his 1996 novel The Chatham School Affair received an Edgar award from the Mystery Writers of America. Still, he is denied that superstar status, which may be the only pure mystery associated with Cook.
Unfortunately Cook’s work is usually grouped as ‘Mysteries’ along side Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, and Patricia Cornwell and because his books don’t really fit into that crowd, he goes somewhat unnoticed. But his books are so much more than genre fiction. They are never formulaic. They’d best be described as literary fiction that uses themes from many other genres; mysteries, crime fiction, historical fiction, psychological thrillers and all to great effect. It would be easy to mistake Cook as an English mystery writer, but he is a native of Alabama. He spent many years teaching English and History at Dekalb Community College in Georgia, and served as book review editor for Atlanta Magazine. He holds masters degrees in history and philosophy and maybe this is why a number of his books have deeply knowledgeable historical backgrounds and settings and often dwell on motivations and psyches of the characters instead of stark action types of the ‘usual’ thrillers.
The Crime of Julian Wells is Cook at the top of his game. An elegant stylistic literary mystery, filled with twists and puzzles and deeply human, multi-facetted characters instead of action packed thrills and bigger than life heroes. It’s written in a classic style reminiscent of the best cerebral detective stories. Julian Wells shares one or two similarities to his author. Julian is a successful writer who suffers from that same failure of the marketing people to classify his work. In Julian’s case, he is often mistaken for either a travel writer or a true crime writer or a historical novelist, therefore his book usually only pay him enough to last the research on his next. He travels the world to half forgotten places to document and write about real life crimes, usually serial killers or multiple homicides; Paul Voulet and the atrocities committed by him and his band in Africa, Irma Ida Ilse Grese - nicknamed "the Beast of Belsen", "The Beautiful Beast", and "Die Hyäne von Auschwitz" -, warden of the women's section of Bergen-Belsen and convicted for crimes against humanity at the Belsen Trial and sentenced to death. Gilles de Rais a leader in the French army and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc, and his assistant (La Meffraye – “the terror”in the serial killing of children.
Julian, at the open of the story, has returned home to his Montauk, Long Island home, occupied by him and his sister, Loretta. This scene seems to find him tidying up family business maybe researching his next book (he is studying a map) or perhaps about to set out on his next journey and is leaving his home (he thinks to himself as he looks out of his study windows at a pond that he will “miss these things”). But it soon becomes apparent that his melancholy leads to a more final destination as he rows a yellow boat with peeling paint to the middle of the pond just far enough that he will appear small and distant enough that his sister can’t tell what he is doing or get to him before he can finish what he has set out to do. Once there, he slits his wrists and hangs his arms in the water.
The main mystery, from this point on is why? Julian’s sister, Loretta and his best friend, Philip Anders are left to speculate as to the reasons that Julian, who had always seemed so steadfast, would take his own life. While recalling a trip to Rome with Julian, Loretta recalls viewing the little piazza, the Campidogilo that looks so square, but is in actuality only designed that way by Michelangelo as a trick of perspective,“It’s distortion that creates perfection,” Julian had said. Was Julian’s life also a distortion and only designed by him to seem like perfection?” The only clues are the map he was studying before rowing to the middle of the pond - a map of Argentina with a red circle drawn around an obscure village – and the dedication in the front of Julian’s first book from years ago that Philip now pondered the meaning of; "For Philip, sole witness to my crime."
Philip, the son of a mid-level U.S. State Dept. functionary – as was Julian’s father who died young – and a literary critic and book reviewer who had purposely chosen a slow paced, unremarkable life – as he states late in the book,”…it’s mostly the fact that I don’t have any talent, …I don’t sing or act or play a musical instrument. I’ve read the great books, but I couldn’t never write even a bad one.” - while his friend chose to travel the four corners of the earth, rubbing elbows with evil and journeying into “the heart of darkness.” "Julian had a lot of feeling," says an old literary friend, "but too much of it was morbid. . . . Darkness was the only thing he knew." And Philip thinks, "It was evil he was after, I could tell, some core twist in the scheme of things."
Philip can’t help but wonder to himself, and eventually Loretta, if he failed his friend is some way by choosing to not stay close to Julian and in changing the subject whenever the conversation would grow serious. And could he have stayed Julian’s hand if he were in that boat with him. And what would he have said to him? And now rethinking that dedication in Julian’s first book, he finds himself drawn to discover just what this crime could have been. Philip sets out, first alone, and then with Loretta as a willing assistant, to retrace Julian’s life through the history and chronology of his books. He travels to London, Paris, Budapest, Russia and eventually back to Argentina, where shortly before starting his life as an author, Julian and Philip had spent a summer and had met up with Marisol, an English speaking tour guide, during the late ‘70s during Argentina’s “Dirty War”.
Along the way Philip and Loretta meet with, interview and research events and subjects, literary acquaintances, old spies and old criminals and witnesses to Julian’s life and writing. At first Philip feels out of his depth as a de facto-detective on the trail of a crime that Julian seemingly only knew in his own heart, but Philip comes to wonder if he, himself, might have been, somehow complicit in. And if so, then wasn’t he in someway also complicit in his friends decision to take his own life? Philip thinks at one point, "I was never trained in finding anything but metaphors and symbols." But he soon starts to find that Julian’s whole career might have been some soul-search for redemption, some quest to discover the effects on the victims as well as the motivation in the evil hearts of killers who often hid behind a mask of charm or whose evil was only revealed by circumstance.
Thomas H. CookAlong the dark trails of Julian’s life Philip and Loretta are led back to Marisol and Argentina. But Julian never had romantic thoughts for Marisol, who was apparently one of the ‘disappeared’, and one of the innocent as Marisol was not a political person. As they have discovered, Julian was more than he appeared and haunted by more than they were able to see, caught up in their own lives while he was alive. Did Julian discover that “Hell is not other people, but in opposition to Sartre’s famous line, it is what we do to other people.” And if so, then what did Julian do and to whom? Could Julian’s crime have been worthy of the death sentence he passed on himself. And to steal a line from Graham Greene’s The Third Man, is it true that “A person doesn’t change just because you find out more (about them).”
Cook weaves a tale with curves that only lead to more curves with literary references to such writers as Eric Ambler, Jorge Luis Borges, Joseph Conrad and Graham Greene – and this may be the only fault as the author too often reminds us at transitions in the plot that “in a novel….this would happen, but…” - as well as references to some obscure and some more famous serial killers and dark historical events. Cook’s prose are wonderfully wrought; elegant, and the plot intricate as it explores not just the history of evil men and women and evil deeds both great and small, but the cost to the psyche when we travel too deeply into ‘the heart of darkness’ and as Marlow felt at the end of that story,” …(he) is drained by the tale he has just related, emptied not of energy but of belief. It is as if the darkness he describes has dialed down the light in his soul.” It also is about how unspeakable crimes can be committed by ordinary people, especially when they wear a mask of deception, “It’s in all of Julian’s books. Deceit. The moment when the face of someone you thought you knew changes, and you suspect that there’s something terrible behind the mask.” Or the cause and effect of an innocent act, a game, and the damage it can do. "Like Orpheus, he had brought music into hell, and like him, he had died in a world that no longer wished to hear it."
The Dirty Lowdown
June 13, 2022
The crime of Julian wells - Thomas h cook
ಬಿಡಿಸಲಾಗದೆ ಕಗ್ಗಂಟಾಗಿ ಹಾಗೇ ಉಳಿದುಹೋದ ಅಪರಾಧಕ್ಕಿಂತ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಕಾಡುವ ಸಂಗತಿ ಇನ್ನೊಂದಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂಬ ಸಾಲಿನಿಂದ ಶುರುವಾಗುವ ಕಾದಂಬರಿ ಇದು.
ಅವನೊಬ್ಬ ವಿಮರ್ಶಕ. ಅವನ ಬಾಲ್ಯದ ಗೆಳೆಯ ತೀರಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ಸರೋವರವೊಂದರ ನಡುವೆ ಬೋಟ್ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋಗಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಬೋಟ್ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿ ಎರಡೂ ಮಣಿಕಟ್ಟುಗಳ ಕುಯ್ದುಕೊಂಡು ಸಾವನ್ನು ಆಹ್ವಾನಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ಆ ಸತ್ತ ಗೆಳೆಯ ಬಗೆಹರಿಯದ ಕೊಲೆಗಳ,ಸಾವಿನ ಕುರಿತು ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳ ಬರೆದವ. ಅವನ ಕೊನೆಯ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಅನ್ವೇಷಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಾಗ ಅವನ ಸಾವಾಗಿದೆ. ಅದಕ್ಕೂ ಈ ಆತ್ಮಹತ್ಯೆಗೂ ಸಂಬಂಧವಿದೆಯಾ? ಅಲ್ಲಾ ,ಅವನು ತನ್ನ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಅರ್ಪಣೆ ವಿಭಾಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೆದ ' ನನ್ನ ಅಪರಾಧದ ಏಕೈಕ ಸಾಕ್ಷಿ ನಿನಗೆ' ಎಂದು ಉಲ್ಲೇಖಿಸಿದ ಇವನ ಪಾತ್ರವೇನಾದರೂ ಇದೆಯಾ? ಆ ಅಪರಾಧ ಏನು? ಇವನಿಗೆ ನೆನಪಿರುವ ಮಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಹಾಗೇನೂ ಆದ ಹಾಗಿಲ್ಲ.
ಥಾಮಸ್ ಎಚ್ ಕುಕ್ ,ಅಮೆರಿಕದ ಹೊರಗಡೆ ಅಷ್ಟೇನೂ ಪರಿಚಯವಿಲ್ಲದ ಲೇಖಕ. ಅವನು ಕ್ರೈಮ್ ಬರಹಗಾರನಾದರೂ ಅವನ ಬರಹ ಸುತ್ತುವುದೂ ಅಪರಾಧಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಮತ್ತು ರಹಸ್ಯ ಬಿಡಿಸುವುದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಜಾಸ್ತಿ ,ಆ ಅಪರಾಧೀ ಪ್ರಜ್ಞೆ ಮತ್ತು ಯಾಕೆ ಹೀಗಾಯ್ತು ಇದನ್ನು ತಪ್ಪಿಸಬಹುದಿತ್ತಲ್ಲ ಎಂಬುದರ ಕುರಿತಾಗಿ. ಅದಲ್ಲದೆ ಅವನ ಗದ್ಯವೂ ಕಾವ್ಯಾತ್ಮಕವಾದದ್ದು. ಅದರಿಂದಲೇ ಅವನ ಓದುವಾಗ ನಮ್ಮ ಗತವೂ, ನಮಗೆ ತಟ್ಟುವ ಸಾಲುಗಳೂ ಪದೇ ಪದೇ ಎದುರಾಗುತ್ತವೆ.
ಈ ಸಾಲುಗಳ ಗಮನಿಸಿ
There are some bridges you cannot cross again and so your only choice is simply to make the best of the shore you have chosen
'ತುಂಬಾ ಸಲ ಬದುಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಕು ಎಂದು ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಬಂದ ಮೇಲೆ ವಾಪಸ್ ಹೋಗಲಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ವಾಪಸ್ ಹೋಗುವ ಮನಸಿದ್ದರೂ. ಆಗ ಆ ದುಃಖ ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡು ಕೊರಗುವುದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಆಯ್ಕೆ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡ ಜಾಗದಲ್ಲೀ,ವೃತ್ತಿಯಲ್ಲೋ ಸಂತೋಷ ಕಂಡುಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದೇ ಸರಿಯಾದ ನಿರ್ಧಾರ.'
ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯವಾಗಿ ರಹಸ್ಯ ಬಗೆಹರಿದ ಮೇಲೆ ಕ್ರೈಮ್ ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಾರಸ್ಯ ಉಳಿಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ತಿರುವಿ ಹಾಕುವ ಗುಣವುಳ್ಳ ಇವನ ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳು ಯಾವತ್ತೂ ನನಗಿಷ್ಟ.
ಬಿಡಿಸಲಾಗದೆ ಕಗ್ಗಂಟಾಗಿ ಹಾಗೇ ಉಳಿದುಹೋದ ಅಪರಾಧಕ್ಕಿಂತ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಕಾಡುವ ಸಂಗತಿ ಇನ್ನೊಂದಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂಬ ಸಾಲಿನಿಂದ ಶುರುವಾಗುವ ಕಾದಂಬರಿ ಇದು.
ಅವನೊಬ್ಬ ವಿಮರ್ಶಕ. ಅವನ ಬಾಲ್ಯದ ಗೆಳೆಯ ತೀರಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ಸರೋವರವೊಂದರ ನಡುವೆ ಬೋಟ್ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋಗಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಬೋಟ್ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿ ಎರಡೂ ಮಣಿಕಟ್ಟುಗಳ ಕುಯ್ದುಕೊಂಡು ಸಾವನ್ನು ಆಹ್ವಾನಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ಆ ಸತ್ತ ಗೆಳೆಯ ಬಗೆಹರಿಯದ ಕೊಲೆಗಳ,ಸಾವಿನ ಕುರಿತು ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳ ಬರೆದವ. ಅವನ ಕೊನೆಯ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಅನ್ವೇಷಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಾಗ ಅವನ ಸಾವಾಗಿದೆ. ಅದಕ್ಕೂ ಈ ಆತ್ಮಹತ್ಯೆಗೂ ಸಂಬಂಧವಿದೆಯಾ? ಅಲ್ಲಾ ,ಅವನು ತನ್ನ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಅರ್ಪಣೆ ವಿಭಾಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೆದ ' ನನ್ನ ಅಪರಾಧದ ಏಕೈಕ ಸಾಕ್ಷಿ ನಿನಗೆ' ಎಂದು ಉಲ್ಲೇಖಿಸಿದ ಇವನ ಪಾತ್ರವೇನಾದರೂ ಇದೆಯಾ? ಆ ಅಪರಾಧ ಏನು? ಇವನಿಗೆ ನೆನಪಿರುವ ಮಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಹಾಗೇನೂ ಆದ ಹಾಗಿಲ್ಲ.
ಥಾಮಸ್ ಎಚ್ ಕುಕ್ ,ಅಮೆರಿಕದ ಹೊರಗಡೆ ಅಷ್ಟೇನೂ ಪರಿಚಯವಿಲ್ಲದ ಲೇಖಕ. ಅವನು ಕ್ರೈಮ್ ಬರಹಗಾರನಾದರೂ ಅವನ ಬರಹ ಸುತ್ತುವುದೂ ಅಪರಾಧಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಮತ್ತು ರಹಸ್ಯ ಬಿಡಿಸುವುದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಜಾಸ್ತಿ ,ಆ ಅಪರಾಧೀ ಪ್ರಜ್ಞೆ ಮತ್ತು ಯಾಕೆ ಹೀಗಾಯ್ತು ಇದನ್ನು ತಪ್ಪಿಸಬಹುದಿತ್ತಲ್ಲ ಎಂಬುದರ ಕುರಿತಾಗಿ. ಅದಲ್ಲದೆ ಅವನ ಗದ್ಯವೂ ಕಾವ್ಯಾತ್ಮಕವಾದದ್ದು. ಅದರಿಂದಲೇ ಅವನ ಓದುವಾಗ ನಮ್ಮ ಗತವೂ, ನಮಗೆ ತಟ್ಟುವ ಸಾಲುಗಳೂ ಪದೇ ಪದೇ ಎದುರಾಗುತ್ತವೆ.
ಈ ಸಾಲುಗಳ ಗಮನಿಸಿ
There are some bridges you cannot cross again and so your only choice is simply to make the best of the shore you have chosen
'ತುಂಬಾ ಸಲ ಬದುಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಕು ಎಂದು ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಬಂದ ಮೇಲೆ ವಾಪಸ್ ಹೋಗಲಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ವಾಪಸ್ ಹೋಗುವ ಮನಸಿದ್ದರೂ. ಆಗ ಆ ದುಃಖ ಇಟ್ಟುಕೊಂಡು ಕೊರಗುವುದಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಆಯ್ಕೆ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡ ಜಾಗದಲ್ಲೀ,ವೃತ್ತಿಯಲ್ಲೋ ಸಂತೋಷ ಕಂಡುಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದೇ ಸರಿಯಾದ ನಿರ್ಧಾರ.'
ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯವಾಗಿ ರಹಸ್ಯ ಬಗೆಹರಿದ ಮೇಲೆ ಕ್ರೈಮ್ ಪುಸ್ತಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಾರಸ್ಯ ಉಳಿಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ತಿರುವಿ ಹಾಕುವ ಗುಣವುಳ್ಳ ಇವನ ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳು ಯಾವತ್ತೂ ನನಗಿಷ್ಟ.
January 26, 2025
3.5 stars. A literary mystery that slowly opened my mind to the reality of a man-made horror. Kept me guessing to the end.
May 27, 2014
After reading the reviews here on Goodreads, I was looking forward to reading this book. What a fool I was!
The prologue was good. Nothing earth-shaking, but good. The start of the first chapter wasn't too bad until....
About 13 pages in, there's the sentence: "My chief dissatisfactions were childlessness and widowhood...."
Oh! So the mysterious narrator is a woman. Obvious since women are widows and men are widowers. Strange...I thought the voice sounded more masculine than feminine, but there you go.
A few pages later this widow-therefore-female narrator mentions her "wife". HUH? Perhaps the female narrator was married to another woman. Yeah. That explains it.
Uh, but wait! Just a few lines before the mention of "wife", Loretta refers to the narrator as "Philip". Could it be a nickname? It has to be something like that because there is no way a well-respected author wouldn't know the difference between widow and widower. Right? Wrong!
If this weren't enough, there's the passage: "But why was I recounting Julian's personal history? I wondered." Sheesh! I mean COME ON! This type of "on the nose" internal dialogue is beyond amateurish.
It's at this point I surfed back to the library and to my joy found Fer-de-Lance! The very first Nero Wolfe book! Hurray!
(Oh, and while on the library's site, I removed all of my holds on Thomas Cook's other books. Also deleted him from my watch-list. I am now a Thomas-Cook-Free-Zone.)
The prologue was good. Nothing earth-shaking, but good. The start of the first chapter wasn't too bad until....
About 13 pages in, there's the sentence: "My chief dissatisfactions were childlessness and widowhood...."
Oh! So the mysterious narrator is a woman. Obvious since women are widows and men are widowers. Strange...I thought the voice sounded more masculine than feminine, but there you go.
A few pages later this widow-therefore-female narrator mentions her "wife". HUH? Perhaps the female narrator was married to another woman. Yeah. That explains it.
Uh, but wait! Just a few lines before the mention of "wife", Loretta refers to the narrator as "Philip". Could it be a nickname? It has to be something like that because there is no way a well-respected author wouldn't know the difference between widow and widower. Right? Wrong!
If this weren't enough, there's the passage: "But why was I recounting Julian's personal history? I wondered." Sheesh! I mean COME ON! This type of "on the nose" internal dialogue is beyond amateurish.
It's at this point I surfed back to the library and to my joy found Fer-de-Lance! The very first Nero Wolfe book! Hurray!
(Oh, and while on the library's site, I removed all of my holds on Thomas Cook's other books. Also deleted him from my watch-list. I am now a Thomas-Cook-Free-Zone.)
April 15, 2012
THE CRIME OF JULIAN WELLS
by Thomas H. Cook
Julian Wells, famous author of true-crime novels, rows out into the middle of a pond and slits his wrists. When his body is found, it is an obvious suicide, but with no suicide note, his sister Loretta and his best friend Philip are left to wonder why he took his own life. As they sift through the details of the last forty years of his life, they realize how little they ever knew Julian Wells.
Thomas H. Cook has written a masterpiece combination of mystery and spy thriller. Philip and Loretta retrace the steps of Julian over the last forty years of his life as he searched for the elusive Marisol, revealing Wells' secret life as he was increasingly involved with revolutionaries and political intrigue in South America.
At the end, Cook's novel serves to show us that we never really know the hearts of man, not even those closest to us.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Netgalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
by Thomas H. Cook
Julian Wells, famous author of true-crime novels, rows out into the middle of a pond and slits his wrists. When his body is found, it is an obvious suicide, but with no suicide note, his sister Loretta and his best friend Philip are left to wonder why he took his own life. As they sift through the details of the last forty years of his life, they realize how little they ever knew Julian Wells.
Thomas H. Cook has written a masterpiece combination of mystery and spy thriller. Philip and Loretta retrace the steps of Julian over the last forty years of his life as he searched for the elusive Marisol, revealing Wells' secret life as he was increasingly involved with revolutionaries and political intrigue in South America.
At the end, Cook's novel serves to show us that we never really know the hearts of man, not even those closest to us.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Netgalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
June 7, 2014
I first came upon Thomas H. Cook while browsing at a small book store. After I had read that novel, I was hooked! When Julian Wells came out, I it on bought on the release date, and I have to say, this is one of his best. It's a bit macabre, but well written. Not only is Cook an excellent author, but he adds history as well. This book will definitely take you for a ride, but be warned, it is not an uplifting one.
Julian Wells is seen in the first part of the novel, in process of taking his own life. After, Philip Anders is troubled by the fact that as his friend, there should have been something done to save Julian's life. Philip is constantly questioning the situation- why? What could have been said? Philip decides to find answers to his questions, and so travels to Paris, (Wells' temporary residency while writing), to begin his journey through the darkened path that Julian followed, meeting people Julian knew, seeing places he walked, and coming across the haunted past that most people would deter from.
Julian Wells is seen in the first part of the novel, in process of taking his own life. After, Philip Anders is troubled by the fact that as his friend, there should have been something done to save Julian's life. Philip is constantly questioning the situation- why? What could have been said? Philip decides to find answers to his questions, and so travels to Paris, (Wells' temporary residency while writing), to begin his journey through the darkened path that Julian followed, meeting people Julian knew, seeing places he walked, and coming across the haunted past that most people would deter from.
July 1, 2012
The Crime of Julian Wells is an absorbing read and I truly enjoyed this introduction to Cook's work. Cook masterfully weaves elements of Julian's past, his fervent belief that a father is the most important element in a child's life into a compelling and tense narrative that makes you consider the many angles from which Julian made such a spectacular misstep as the one that would cause him to take his own life. The novel is smartly written, and is a clever mixing of the history of infamous serial killers, the enigmatic nature of friendship and the fragile balance in maintaining dearly held beliefs. Phillip's examination into his friend's whereabouts and deeds also cause him to examine his own belief about friendship and hindsight cruelly illuminates his failures, far more than his successes.
August 27, 2014
Another book that took forever to read. I think I even abandoned it last year but for some reason picked it up again this past summer. Hmmm. The writing was good, albeit a few mistakes here and there. Most notably being Philip described as a widow, when he's a man baby. The story was eh. **Spoiler Alert** The crime of Julian Wells was frustrating. Here is a man described as intelligent and well read but wants to be a spy, so he goes to Philip's father, who doesn't exactly work as a spy but wishes he did even though he works in the government. Awesome. So Julian's crime is acting like a spy in South America where there is turmoil and gets an innocent girl killed. I didn't have any empathy for Julian so I thought he got what he deserved, only he should have killed himself sooner. There, I said it.
January 31, 2016
When I started this book I wrote this comment.
"Hmm, not sure about this one. Beautifully crafted writing, but it's not engaging me yet and it's not making me want to carry on. Not a good sign. I'll stick with it a bit longer because it is well written. Perhaps it will hot up.
People seem to either love it or hate it."
Well I just could not get on with it. It was so pretentious in tone and dry and dull in writing style. There was nothing in this book to make me turn a page over. I got some way in and felt no connection to any character at all. I didn't want to even open it to read more.
I'm afraid it made it to the "Give up" shelf. Why anyone things writing a book this dull and dry is a good idea I just don't understand.
"Hmm, not sure about this one. Beautifully crafted writing, but it's not engaging me yet and it's not making me want to carry on. Not a good sign. I'll stick with it a bit longer because it is well written. Perhaps it will hot up.
People seem to either love it or hate it."
Well I just could not get on with it. It was so pretentious in tone and dry and dull in writing style. There was nothing in this book to make me turn a page over. I got some way in and felt no connection to any character at all. I didn't want to even open it to read more.
I'm afraid it made it to the "Give up" shelf. Why anyone things writing a book this dull and dry is a good idea I just don't understand.
June 20, 2013
Had high hopes for this, as I love 'The Chatham School Affair' - one of my favourite reads. But I decided to give up on it just over half way as it just wasn't engrossing. The mystery of Julian's suicide and his 'crime' is slowly set up in piecemeal fashion and half way through we are still only inching forward. There is a lot of detail of Julian's work: terrible crimes he wrote about, usually from the victims' perspective. All rather harrowing, and not actually contributing to anything apart from gloom and, unfortunately, boredom. The story is too liberally egged with literary and philosophical references which tend to pall after a while. Sorry, Thomas, not a book for me.
January 21, 2016
My third novel by this author, and i am afraid it is a case of diminishing returns. I enjoyed Francine, but i will stop here. There comes a point where the weight of allusion kills the idea it is intended to enhance, and the sheer number of literary references becomes annoying rather than interesting. If one of the characters goes to post a letter I don't also need to know what Graham Greene thought about post boxes, what colour ink T S Eliot used to address his envelopes,and how the ancient Mayans managed without stamps.(nb I made that one up)
Too much already, and I gave up when Prufrock and The Quiet American appeared in the same paragraph..
Too much already, and I gave up when Prufrock and The Quiet American appeared in the same paragraph..
February 11, 2013
I love this author’s writing style…literary and cerebral. Julian Wells, an author, commits suicide at the very beginning of the novel. The mystery is about why he did it. His good friend, Phillip sets out to retrace Julian’s book research travels throughout Argentina, Paris and Russia in order to uncover any clues that might explain his suicide. Along the way, he discovered that Julian was a haunted man; much more than he appeared to be to his friends and family. No larger than life action heroes here but a well written, compelling mystery, nevertheless.
January 23, 2018
It was time to read another book by a favorite author, but one needs to be prepared to fathom the psychological twists and turns of a Cook creation. He is such an excellent writer, I've often wished he would choose more uplifting subjects, as his themes are always somewhat grim. Early in this book, he even mentions people not always liking to read "dark stuff," as though he realizes that his audience will not encompass some readers. But he goes on to say that they would be missing "the gravity of life." Interesting...
March 6, 2013
There is a mystery here, but this certainly isn't your typical mystery. It moves at a leisurely pace as the story moves from the USA to South America to Europe and back again. Reads like Graham Greene or LeCarre. There's possible spying and political intrigue, but it isn't a spy novel, and it isn't a political thriller either. Moral dilemmas make this a thought-provoking read. I think this maybe qualifies as "Literature."
July 28, 2013
Phillip, the narrator, sets out to discover why his friend Julian committed suicide (on page 3) and why Julian said Phillip was a witness to Julian's crime. Phillip is not aware of any crime. To better understand Julian, Phillip retraces Julian's steps and ultimately gets his answer. The writing is uneven, laborious most of the time, sometimes self-important. Another nook Free Friday and not much better than most of them.
August 8, 2013
How well do you really know your friends?
That is the eternal question raised in this fine cerebral mystery, as an author's suicide sends his best friend on a journey into the heart of darkness, peeling away the layers of a lonely life, to discover the shadowy secret hidden in their shared past, while exploring the very nature of deception, itself. The author expertly weaves fact and fiction into a leisurely paced literary mystery that leaves you with much to think about.
That is the eternal question raised in this fine cerebral mystery, as an author's suicide sends his best friend on a journey into the heart of darkness, peeling away the layers of a lonely life, to discover the shadowy secret hidden in their shared past, while exploring the very nature of deception, itself. The author expertly weaves fact and fiction into a leisurely paced literary mystery that leaves you with much to think about.
May 7, 2015
This story was extremely slow to get through. While there is a good build up of suspense and intrigue, the outcome is very disappointing and not satisfying. I always finish a book once I start it, and upon closing this book after the last page, all I could think was, What a waste of time.
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