
Subterfuge, deep fakes, grisly deaths and a family curse. Californian writer Sara Sligar whiplashes between Gothic family drama and outrageous high-tech caper in Vantage Point, her latest thriller which is set on an island in Maine.
We meet the Wieland family. Rich, successful and cursed. Through the decades, horrible accidents have befallen members of the family in April. From run-of-the-mill stabbings, drownings, poisonings, yacht fires, suicides, collisions and being trampled by horses to being attacked by grizzly bears, a freak badminton accident, being crushed by marquee lights and flattened by steel factory rollers – the Wieland family is not one you want to be part of.
Among the freak accidents was the one that tragically claimed the lives of the parents of Wieland heirs, Teddy and Clara. While walking with Clara, the mother and father slipped and went careening off a cliff.
Now, 16 years later, Clara still carries the burden of guilt and her self-destructive behaviour, substance abuse and eating disorder are manifestations of this. At the time, the media suggested she intentionally distracted her mother, causing both parents to fall, or worse, that she pushed them.
Teddy was always there to catch Clara’s fall. After their parents’ death, he was appointed her guardian. When she was admitted to a clinic for her eating disorder she inadvertently gave him signing privileges and complete control over her life. But now Teddy’s priorities have shifted. He’s running for senate and the campaign leaves no room for Clara or his wife, Jessica. Clara and Jess have been best friends since they were nine, and Jess has lived through most of Clara’s highs and lows.
After an explicit sex tape featuring Clara is made public online, Teddy’s political aspirations suffer a serious blow. Clara’s memory has been impacted by years of poor choices and a wild life, but she doesn’t recall the night it was recorded. Clara is inundated with severe, ceaseless online harassment, including death threats. We see the harm online predators cause and that women are never safe on the internet.
In addition, she is having what she assumes are powerful hallucinations. Each is a vision of the death of a Wieland family member caused by a deer, the bears, a fire and so on. Is this a premonition of her fate considering that April is here? Is her mind playing tricks on her? If not, who will believe her? Certainly not the family she has disappointed time after time.
Soon enough Clara isn’t the only target. A conversation between Jess and Clara is leaked, as is Teddy’s mistreatment of a waitress at a fundraising event. Bit by bit Teddy’s career crumbles as does his marriage. Additionally, Jess begins to recognise the condescending and manipulative nature of the family’s golden child. There has never been a clearer gulf between their upbringings. Jess is from a working-class background, but changed herself to fit Teddy’s world rather than being in control of her own life.
There is no official investigation nor a police detective or private investigator to help solve the mystery. Instead, the onus is on Clara to prove she hasn’t been imagining things and discover who’s behind the online videos and their motive. Sara Sligar keeps the cast of characters to a minimum, making the revelation of the guilty party slightly less unexpected than one might like. This closed-circle mystery could do with a tad more suspense.
But the novel’s strength isn’t the plot. Instead the focus is on family dynamics and the setting. Vantage Point is an imposing 100-acre cliffside island estate the siblings inherited. Clara describes the house as an entity emerging from the woods “…like an angry, spitting animal being dragged forward by its collar.” It’s the perfect location for a claustrophobic mystery. Add to this an accident-prone family driven by money and power and you have a recipe for disaster.
Sligar’s often laconic wry and darkly humorous tone is particularly entertaining and balanced against a frightening glimpse of the damage technology poses to us.
For another closed circle mystery, this time in a mountain retreat, try Ruth Kelly’s The Ice Retreat.
MCD
Print
£19.99
CFL Rating: 3 Stars