Mouth to Mouth [antikvár]

Gerince megtört, a könyvtest deformált.
Michael Kimball first caught my attention in 1985 with Firewater Pond, a boisterously comic novel set in rural Maine and populated by an assortment of aging hippies, horny teenagers, and scheming, small town politicians. After much too long a silence, Kimball resurfaced in 1996 with Undone, a suspense novel that marked a major change of artistic direction. Now, a mere four years later, Kimball has published his third novel, Mouth to Mouth. It too is a suspense novel, and it's a beauty: a moody, brooding, Gothic account of murder, madness, and festering family secrets. Mouth to Mouth opens with a set piece in which most of the elements of the subsequent tragedy move quickly into view. The scene, ironically, is a wedding. Moreen Chambers, 17 years old and very pregnant, has just married a 27-year-old "outlaw" named Randy, a violent, potentially abusive loser who works as an enforcer for a local loan shark. Moreen's mother Ellen, whose own marriage has fallen on difficult times, despises her new son-in-law and foresees nothing but a bleak, unhappy future for her daughter. As Ellen stands contemplating the travesty-in-progress, looking like someone who is "wondering if it's possible to get away with murder," an attractive stranger whispers in her ear: "Actually, it is."