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What Smiled at Him
What Smiled at Him is the story of two childhood friends who find every clue and opportunity they need to solve a grisly double murder, but, for their own reasons, choose not to.
Lynn and Marv, are in their late twenties, one a struggling musician, the other a salesman and both have begun to question the choices they’ve made. One night, far from home, alcohol, irresponsibility and coincidence reunite them with Caroline, the longtime object of their desires. Married into a wealthy Chicago family and unhappy, she begins an affair with Marv.
A few weeks later, she’s arrested and charged with murdering her husband and infant son. As her trial nears, the unwelcome mystery pursues the friends through their searches for love, stabs at success, self-destructive lapses and leads one of them to his death.
Lynn and Marv, are in their late twenties, one a struggling musician, the other a salesman and both have begun to question the choices they’ve made. One night, far from home, alcohol, irresponsibility and coincidence reunite them with Caroline, the longtime object of their desires. Married into a wealthy Chicago family and unhappy, she begins an affair with Marv.
A few weeks later, she’s arrested and charged with murdering her husband and infant son. As her trial nears, the unwelcome mystery pursues the friends through their searches for love, stabs at success, self-destructive lapses and leads one of them to his death.
- GenresMystery
283 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 17, 2013
51 people are currently reading
832 people want to read
About the author
Colin Dodds
26 books97 followersColin Dodds is an award-winning author and filmmaker, whose works include Pharoni, Ms. Never and The 6th Finger of Tommy the Goose. He grew up in Massachusetts and lived in California briefly, before finishing his education in New York City. Since then, he’s made his living as a journalist, editor, copywriter and video producer. His work has appeared in Gothamist, The Washington Post and more than three hundred other publications, and been praised by luminaries such as David Berman and Norman Mailer. Forget This Good Thing I Just Said, a first-of-its-kind literary and philosophical experience (the book form of which was a finalist for the Big Other Book Prize for Nonfiction), is available as an app for the iPhone. He lives in New York City, with his wife and children.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 7, 2012
For starters, I received this book as a First Reads giveaway.
Having now read the book, I must say, ignore the first paragraph of the description. This is not a murder mystery. There is a detective in the story, but it's a bit part and not from his pov. The main characters, Marv and Lynn, don't even attempt to solve what happened. As other reviewers have pointed out, there is no clear picture of what actually occured.
Though the story wasn't quite what I thought it would be, I have to say, Colin Dodds has peered into the world of these two characters and taken ample notes to allow the reader to partake in their broken lives. Marv and Lynn are well developed, flaws and all. The real world is full of broken individuals just like Marv, Lynn, and Caroline, who for unknown reasons, to themselves and others, continue to screw things up. Sometimes these people manage to collect those pieces and superglue them back into something functional, although still obviously imperfect. What Smiled at Him is full of these type of people. It's like they're all magnets to each other and together things get shattered even more.
For me the pacing was just fine, and I thoroughly enjoyed the character building and the back and forth povs of Marv and Lynn. Another reviewer was wrong in stating that Caroline doesn't get introduced until half way, she's introduced a fifth way in. Caroline isn't a pov character, but she is vitally important to the story.
What I enjoyed most about the book was that you see these characters are heading for a head on collision and you hope that they'll look up and see what's happening and avoid it at the last second.
Having now read the book, I must say, ignore the first paragraph of the description. This is not a murder mystery. There is a detective in the story, but it's a bit part and not from his pov. The main characters, Marv and Lynn, don't even attempt to solve what happened. As other reviewers have pointed out, there is no clear picture of what actually occured.
Though the story wasn't quite what I thought it would be, I have to say, Colin Dodds has peered into the world of these two characters and taken ample notes to allow the reader to partake in their broken lives. Marv and Lynn are well developed, flaws and all. The real world is full of broken individuals just like Marv, Lynn, and Caroline, who for unknown reasons, to themselves and others, continue to screw things up. Sometimes these people manage to collect those pieces and superglue them back into something functional, although still obviously imperfect. What Smiled at Him is full of these type of people. It's like they're all magnets to each other and together things get shattered even more.
For me the pacing was just fine, and I thoroughly enjoyed the character building and the back and forth povs of Marv and Lynn. Another reviewer was wrong in stating that Caroline doesn't get introduced until half way, she's introduced a fifth way in. Caroline isn't a pov character, but she is vitally important to the story.
What I enjoyed most about the book was that you see these characters are heading for a head on collision and you hope that they'll look up and see what's happening and avoid it at the last second.
June 14, 2012
Colin Dodds has produced another fine novel. It comes on the heels of his 2011 novel, Another Broken Wizard.
What Smiled At Him (2012) could well be called Men Without Women Or Direction. It features Marv and Lynn, a pair of late 20-somethings males who living but without much purpose. Marv is a salesman, Lynn a showman. One ostensibly has a career, the other clearly doesn’t. But both have a habit of dodging life’s difficult questions...(read more)
What Smiled At Him (2012) could well be called Men Without Women Or Direction. It features Marv and Lynn, a pair of late 20-somethings males who living but without much purpose. Marv is a salesman, Lynn a showman. One ostensibly has a career, the other clearly doesn’t. But both have a habit of dodging life’s difficult questions...(read more)
July 19, 2020
Some screwed up people in this story. And then the ending! WTF!
August 23, 2017
I received this book as a first reads winner, which I really enjoy discovering new authors. I thought the description of the book sounded interesting and the cover drew my attention. The description talks about Lynn and Marv in their late twenties who begin to question their choices and one night reunites with Caroline who they both had slept with in High School. A few weeks later she is arrested for murdering her husband and infant son.
First off, this book was very disappointing. I thought it was going to be fast-paced and Lynn and Marv would be sucked into what happens with the murder. Boy was that ever wrong. You don’t get introduced to Caroline until pretty much halfway into the book. The first half is slow, boring and did not grab my attention. It felt like the first half of the book was used to build the characters of Lynn and Marv.
The description makes it sound like Caroline is a big part of the story but she is barely even in it, There isn’t much with the mystery of the murders chasing after the two men and then the book ended really weird. I hate to say it but I did not enjoy this book at all. It was hard to follow, there were so many words in the wrong place or missing and it was just not interesting. Maybe it’s not my kind of book, but had it not been a book I won as a first reads winner I would have stopped reading almost immediately.
First off, this book was very disappointing. I thought it was going to be fast-paced and Lynn and Marv would be sucked into what happens with the murder. Boy was that ever wrong. You don’t get introduced to Caroline until pretty much halfway into the book. The first half is slow, boring and did not grab my attention. It felt like the first half of the book was used to build the characters of Lynn and Marv.
The description makes it sound like Caroline is a big part of the story but she is barely even in it, There isn’t much with the mystery of the murders chasing after the two men and then the book ended really weird. I hate to say it but I did not enjoy this book at all. It was hard to follow, there were so many words in the wrong place or missing and it was just not interesting. Maybe it’s not my kind of book, but had it not been a book I won as a first reads winner I would have stopped reading almost immediately.
February 26, 2014
What Smiled at Him by Colin Dodds
This is the story of two childhood friends Lynn and Marv. They are in their late twenties and trying to figure out where their life is going. They reconnect with a high school friend Caroline. She is married to a wealthy man, but starts an affair with Marv. Then things turn ugly. Caroline is accused of murdering her husband and son.
The story is fast paced, and gets confusing. To me it jumped around a bit and was easy to lose track of who was talking and what was going on. But the story line itself was interesting and I needed to know how it ended. The description did not really fit the story, but it did hold enough intrigue (to me) so I was able to finish.
This is the story of two childhood friends Lynn and Marv. They are in their late twenties and trying to figure out where their life is going. They reconnect with a high school friend Caroline. She is married to a wealthy man, but starts an affair with Marv. Then things turn ugly. Caroline is accused of murdering her husband and son.
The story is fast paced, and gets confusing. To me it jumped around a bit and was easy to lose track of who was talking and what was going on. But the story line itself was interesting and I needed to know how it ended. The description did not really fit the story, but it did hold enough intrigue (to me) so I was able to finish.
June 13, 2012
Slow start-up. Too focused on building character. Halfway in, the murder finally happens & we never know who really did it. There's a little unexpected death at the end, but then it just seemed too sudden. All the "sex, drugs, & alcohol" deal seemed a little cliche.
I'm glad I won this book. I think despite this not being one of my favorite genres, I'm still glad I gave it a try as should everyone. Dodds' writing is very straightforward & I like that. I'm looking forward to see what else he has up his sleeves.
I'm glad I won this book. I think despite this not being one of my favorite genres, I'm still glad I gave it a try as should everyone. Dodds' writing is very straightforward & I like that. I'm looking forward to see what else he has up his sleeves.
May 9, 2012
"The novel has an angry edge to it, recalling the spirit of the Beats. Many of the peripheral characters speak like prophets… Marv and Lynn are just as self-aware as their supporting cast, and their abundance of wisdom sometimes stretches believability; it’s tempered, however, by the flaw of their continually self-destructive behavior. Watching them ignore their better instincts… makes the characters more endearing."
-Kirkus Reviews
-Kirkus Reviews
June 2, 2012
I recieved this book as one of the first reads. It sounded like it would be just up my alley. I enjoyed the character build up and the mystery. The book did leave me wondering who did it and haw did it happen... cause we never really found out
July 14, 2023
Excellent book!!!
August 31, 2016
Very strange book. Not one that I would recommend. The story line took several strange twists and turns.
February 18, 2014
Can be confusing
to many twists c to plot, but does keep one reading.a good read but author trying to hard to fill space
to many twists c to plot, but does keep one reading.a good read but author trying to hard to fill space
August 18, 2014
I tried but I had to stop reading at about 20% in- terrible, couldn't get into it at all
Read
August 28, 2016Unable to finish. Not my kind of book.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews