Don't Believe Your Own Eyes

This is the second mystery story I’ve read by Australian author Benjamin Stevenson. The first was the really clever and witty mystery Everyone on This Train is a Suspect, which I reviewed here and gave four and a half stars. In that book frustrated author Ernest Cunningham finds himself in the midst of a murder mystery onboard Australia’s famous train The Ghan. Stevenson’s sense of humor really shone through in a book that is a self-conscious attempt to construct a closed-room “Golden Age” mystery. After reading that book I was so impressed that I said, “I find myself marveling at how well the author had laid down the trail of crumbs / clues that led to the surprising ending, AND how well his red herrings had put me off the real culprit.'“

This book doesn’t do quite as well. It has a clever premise for sure, with the “forced suicide” question that it poses. It also has a solid plot, but unlike the previous book that modeled itself on Agatha Christie novels, this one seems more like a version of a modern BBC crime drama. The plot unfolds like an episode of “Vera” - a death occurs upfront, and our hero must sort through the clues and personalities around the dead person, in a quaint rural setting and inside of a big city business, to arrive at the solution.

That’s not to say that I think this book lives up to the standard that “Vera” sets. COMPLETE ASIDE: If you’re a fan of mysteries and you’ve never seen an episode of “Vera” you really need to go watch a few. Its great TV for mystery fans! The BBC series is taken from a set of books by Ann Cleeves and follows Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope through a series of mystery stories. You can catch a few seasons on Prime or Apple TV, but if you want the full 13 seasons you may need to get yourself a BritBox subscription. END ASIDE

This story begins with TV personality Sam Midford appearing live on his TV show. He fidgets and seems nervous, which may be understandable - most of the TV crew are convinced that he’s about to propose to his longtime girlfriend live on air. There are rumors around the studio that a ring was seen in Sam’s dressing room earlier.

But instead of pulling out a ring Sam instead produces a pistol and shoots himself in the head. Live and on air. A million people see Sam commit suicide. But not everyone who was viewing believes that what they saw was suicide. Those closest to Sam believe he was somehow coerced to pull the trigger - murdered in essence.

Sam’s twin brother Harry enlists the aid of disgraced true-crime podcaster Jack Quick to help uncover the truth. Quick was just released from jail where he served time for perverting the course of justice on a previous case covered by his podcast, and is the hero of one of Stevenson’s earlier books called Greenlight. Jack has relevant experience in TV that makes Harry think he may be willing to take on what at first appears an improbable case. Quick has his own reasons to empathize with Harry - his own brother has been in a coma for years after an accident that he blames himself for.

The story that follows slowly unwinds the clues to the case while balancing the personal stories of the Midford family and those of Quick, his brother and father. It all comes together in the end. The resolution is both not quite believable (Jack, like Vera, unnecessarily puts himself into danger to bring about the climax of the story in a scene that didn’t quite add up for me), and at the same time quite plausible (the resolution provides motive, opportunity and means like a good detective story should).

RATING: Three Stars ⭐⭐⭐

RATING COMMENTS: A competent murder mystery with a unique premise. In comparison to the first book I read by Stevenson it suffers from a lack of the wit that made the previous book so enjoyable. Considered on its own, it does add questions around coerced suicides in the social media age that are still being grappled with by justice systems around the world.

WHERE I GOT MY COPY: I purchased a copy of the paperback at a bookstore here in Australia. I’m not sure but poking around on the internet leads me to conclude that the paperback isn’t available in the US, but an ebook version may be.