A man we know only as Lee is a professor of computer science at a small mid-west college, perhaps in Iowa. The novel opens as a bomb explodes in the office next to Lee's, killing a colleague, Handley. As the story moves on, we get to know Lee very well; we are privy to his innermost thoughts. He is not a very likable man. (If we knew anyone's inner life, perhaps no one would be likable.) We discover Lee is lonely and an alcoholic. He is depressed, cranky, jealous of others success, and estranged from his only daughter.
Susan Choi who was a finalist for a Pulitzer for a previous novel, writes a beautifully structured novel. Here she has written a psychological study that follows the breakdown of a man who has good reason to be paranoid. He finds himself suspected by the FBI of being the bomber. Lee eventually sets out to discover who the real murderer is. The killer is reminiscent of the Unibomber of some years back. He writes tracts to newspapers and makes threats and demands a pulpit for his twisted ideas. Lee's suspicions focus on a former friend, Gaither whose wife Lee seduced and eventually married. The story goes back and forth between the past relationship of Lee, Gaither and Aileen and the present of Lee now divorced.
The story is interesting and excellently crafted, but moves slowly with its rich vocabulary. I found nothing to like about any of the characters (especially Lee, whom I wanted to shake some sense into) until the final third of the book with the introduction of a new character, who seemed to be the lone honest person in the book. Despite all this, I enjoyed Choi's writing and found I did get into the story.
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