The Alphabet in Crime Fiction: Nancy Bush’s Unseen

Today, the Alphabet in Crime Fiction community meme is making a U-turn as we head towards the final five stops on our tour. My thanks, as ever, to Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise for her leadership as we make our unsafe way through the letters. My contribution for today’s stop is Nancy Bush’s Unseen, published in 2009.

The real action in the novel begins when Edward Letton is struck by a hit-and-run driver. He’s gravely wounded and taken to hospital where he later dies. When the police begin to investigate the incident, they find that Letton is a paedophile who was on the point of abducting a young girl when he was struck. The unknown driver has killed Letton, but saved the girl’s life in the process. Detective Will Tanninger, with the Winslow County, Oregon Sheriff’s Department, is responsible for the investigation and starts the routine of identifying the driver. In the same hospital as Letton is an unidentified woman who was brought in with injuries from a car accident. At first, she doesn’t remember who she is or what she’s doing in the hospital but soon enough, she begins to recover bits and pieces of her memory. Tanninger interviews her when he finds out that her injuries are consistent with the kinds of injuries that Letton’s killer could have had. The young woman tells Tanninger that her name is Gemma LaPorte, and that she has no memory at all of the accident that sent her to hospital, and only hazy memories of anything else. But she insists that she did not hit Letton.

Gemma’s remembered enough of her life to know where she lives, so she leaves the hospital and returns to the small town of Quarry to try to pick up where she left off, so to speak. As she settles back in, though, Gemma finds that that’s not going to be easy. For one thing, she’s still a “person of interest” in the death of Edward Letton. In some people’s eyes that makes her almost an heroic figure, but she is still a suspect in a murder case. For another, the memories that Gemma begins to recall are increasingly troubling. She was adopted at a young age by a loving but ineffective father and a manipulative mother, so although she hasn’t been brutalised, Gemma hasn’t been happy. What’s worse is that Gemma becomes quite sure that there’s something deeply hidden in her past – something dark and dangerous, and that it may have something to do with her ability to “read people” and know what they’re feeling. She’s been troubled for years by blackouts and terrible headaches and she’s certain that this is tied in with her past, too.

For his part, Will Tanninger finds that investigating Letton’s death is not straightforward. He’s increasingly drawn to Gemma and wants more than anything for her not to be guilty. But at the same time, he’s a good lawman who doesn’t believe in “vigilante justice.” He can’t find direct evidence connecting Gemma with the crime; yet the circumstantial evidence is compelling. Without specific memories of what Gemma was doing that day, she can’t help much in the investigation and no-one else seems indicated. As if that weren’t enough, he and his partner Barb Gillette are caught up in the investigation of a series of bizarre murders, and there’s a lot of public and departmental pressure to catch the murderer. In the end, Gemma and Will, each in a different way, discover who really killed Edward Letton and how that death ties in with the recent murders.

I should start by saying that Unseen is not for everyone. There is a touch of the paranormal in this novel as Gemma discovers her “gift” and the secret in her past, and that’s not everyone’s cuppa. That said, though, the solution to the mystery is not “magical.” Still, readers who prefer to avoid the paranormal may not find this to their liking.

Another element woven into this story is the budding relationship between Gemma LaPorte and Will Tanninger. They’re attracted to each other and as the novel progresses, they get to know each other better and in fact, they fall in love. Those who don’t care for romance and sex woven into their crime fiction will probably not find that sub-plot to their liking. I will say, though, that the relationship is depicted fairly authentically. LaPorte is realistically afraid of revealing too much to Tanninger, especially at first; after all, he suspects her of murder. And Tanninger’s initial mistrust of LaPorte is believable, too. She’s a suspect with a very convenient loss of memory, and he’s not gullible enough to believe she’s innocent just because she says that she is.

The solution to the mystery also may not be for everyone. It doesn’t “come out of nowhere,” but it’s also not the result of the kind of careful police work and solid reasoning that many crime fiction fans like. There are clues and hints throughout the novel, and we do follow Tanninger and Gillette as they interview people, consider the physical evidence and so on. But it’s as much Gemma’s slowly returning memory, together with other incidents (no spoilers) that reveal the truth as it is anything else. That said, though, the solution isn’t supernatural, really.

Gemma LaPorte herself is an appealing character. She’s frightened, as anyone would be, to find herself the suspect in a murder that she’s sure she didn’t commit. At the same time, though, she’s determined to pick her life up again and find out for herself whether she was or wasn’t involved in killing Letton. She also shows courage as she starts to explore her own past, and in the end, as she faces off against the real killer. Gemma is a strong protagonist without being either flawless or reckless. It’s not hard to be on her side as she struggles to put her life together.

There are some other appealing characters, too. Will Tanninger, for instance, is fairly realistic as he juggles trying to solve the murders, deal with workplace politics and cope with his ailing mother’s needs. And then there’s Macie Brandewyne, who runs LuLu’s, a diner where Gemma works. Macie is a motherly, nurturing character who really cares about Gemma’s welfare and is one of the few people Gemma trusts. Macie struggles in a very authentic way to manage the diner and raise her headstrong eleven-year-old daughter Charlotte by herself. The friendship between Macie and Gemma is both realistic and appealing, and so is the friendship between Gemma and Charlotte.

Unseen takes place in rural and small-town Oregon, and the reader is placed there:

 

“And that was all they said until they were away from the hospital and down Highway 26 to just outside the Quarry city limits…Will drove the patrol car through the city’s downtown area – basically one street with buinsesses on either side that petered out and turned into rural farmland at the far end. Gemma gazed out the window as they passed Thompson’s Feed & Grain, Century Insurance Co., Pets and More, the Burger Den, and other businesses whose names rippled through her consciousness…”

 

That setting adds to the story and makes it more authentic.

But what’s your view? Have you read Unseen? If you have, what elements do you see in it? What do you think of it?