Tue 12 Apr 2022
RICHARD NEELY – No Certain Life. Jove, paperback original, 1978.
It begins as an idyllic Hollywood love affair. A handsome would-be screenwriter meets a promising young starlet, lonely and compulsively withdrawn, but a long weekend together seems to change all that. Then overnight their brief world of happiness crumbles to panic-stricken dust. She has a husband already, it turns out, a former prisoner of war not at all the same person since his release. An attempt at hospitalization fails, she flees, her new lover finds her, but back in Beverly Hills her mother-in-law is found, slashed to death.
At this point one expects no more than a rather common chiller-thriller in the vein of Hitchcock or perhaps one of his bloodier imitators, but the pacing lags more than it seems it should, and the observant reader (aren’t we all?) will puzzle over certain inconsistencies in the behavior of some of the characters. Of course all is not what it seems, but the feeling begins to grow that Neely dashed this off on a bad day.
Wrong! The ending is certain to make a shambles of all premature conclusions. Neely is not writing by the strict rules of classical deduction. and while the “locked room” aspect of the two lovers’ nightmare of terror is nearly lost to view, it can’t be missed the second time through.
Beyond saying that this is indeed a book which has to be read a second time, I can’t give anything more away, but while this smashing knockout of a story was surely written with an eye for the movies, do read it now.
Rating: B plus.
Novels:
Death to My Beloved (1969)
The Plastic Nightmare (1969) aka Shattered. Filmed under the latter title in 1991. Reprinted by Stark House Press.
While Love Lay Sleeping (1969) Reprinted by Stark House Press.
The Walter Syndrome (1970)
The Damned Innocents (1971) aka Dirty Hands. Filmed under the latter title in 1975.
The Sexton Women (1972)
The Smith Conspiracy (1972) Finalist 1973 Edgar Award for Best Paperback.
The Japanese Mistress (1972)
The Ridgway Women (1975)
A Madness of the Heart (1976) Finalist 1977 Edgar Award for Best Mystery
No Certain Life (1978)
Lies (1978)
The Obligation (1979)
An Accidental Woman (1981)
Shadows from the Past (1983)
April 12th, 2022 at 7:32 pm
I fear that this rather cryptic review doesn’t do the book justice. At the time he was writing, Richard Neely was one of my favorite writers, and I suspect he’s all but forgotten now. Only the fact that Stark House reprinted two of his novels in one recent volume perhaps negates that statement somewhat.
Neely’s specialty, in terms of the books he wrote that I remember reading, was including twist after twist in them, and writing endings which took yet another twist — and this one a giant one that turned everything around on you and leaving you simply stunned and surprised.
That’s why I suppose I was so cryptic with this review, not wanting to give *anything* away.
And by the way, if you happen to go looking for this book online, good luck to you. I couldn’t find a copy anywhere. The image of the cover is also to best I could come up with.
April 13th, 2022 at 8:08 pm
I read and enjoyed SHATTERED and THE WALTER SYNDROME, but for some reason lost track of Neely and had no idea his career lasted that long. He had a unique twist on the suspense novel that I enjoyed, but somehow I disconected and never read (nor recall seeing) any of his books after SYNDROME.
April 13th, 2022 at 8:58 pm
There’s more to his résumé than I was aware of also. I’ve read about a third of his books, but like you, I’d lost track of him for quite a while until this old review popped up.
April 16th, 2022 at 9:45 pm
The updated photo was provided by someone who prefers staying anonymous, but who just yesterday found a copy in a used bookstore. He liked the cover and the blurb on the back, bought it and looked online to find more information about it.
Hence to my review.
And he looked online for other copies. He didn’t find a single one. How much did he pay for it? Canadian$4.99.