Suspects by Thomas Berger
"Suspects" by Thomas Berger is a police procedural novel that intricately weaves the investigation of a brutal double murder with the tumultuous life of the prime suspect. The story revolves around the tragic deaths of Donna Howland and her young daughter, which takes place while her husband, Larry, is with another woman. Initially, the police suspect Larry but soon shift their focus to his troubled half-brother, Lloyd, who has recently lost his job. The narrative delves into Lloyd's unstable lifestyle and his unexpected friendship with a homicide detective named Moody, who grapples with his own demons, including alcoholism and personal failures.
As the investigation unfolds, the novel critiques small-town hypocrisy and highlights the complexities of human relationships, particularly the characters’ struggles with sexuality and media obsession. Berger's portrayal of the investigation is marked by a sense of chance rather than meticulous police work, adding an element of realism to the story. The dialogue is sharp and often mundane, reflecting Berger's storytelling style while eschewing his typical irony and humor. Ultimately, "Suspects" presents a thought-provoking exploration of morality, identity, and the dark undercurrents of ordinary life.
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Suspects by Thomas Berger
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1996
Type of work: Novel
The Work
While several of Berger’s novels have been considered genre parodies by critics, Suspects seems to be an almost straightforward police procedural in the tradition of Ed McBain, shifting back and forth between the police investigating a brutal murder and the aimless life of their prime suspect. The novel lacks the irony and humor of most of Berger’s efforts while demonstrating his interest in storytelling as an end in itself. The seemingly effortless, realistic, often mundane dialogue recalls such crime writers as George V. Higgins.
Donna Howland and her three-year-old daughter are killed while Larry Howland is at a motel with his boss’s wife. After initially suspecting Larry, the police turn their attention to his younger half brother, Lloyd, fired from his job at a supermarket shortly before the murders. The narrative follows the unstable Lloyd on his rambles as he is befriended by Molly, a long-distance truck driver. When he learns of the deaths, Lloyd confronts Larry, whom he suspects, but is arrested himself.
Berger also follows the investigation of Moody, a suggestively named homicide detective, with glimpses of his personal life, including heavy drinking and two failed marriages. Moody is disgusted to learn that LeBeau, his partner, is having an affair with Daisy O’Connor, a police officer whom Moody has known since she was a child because her father was his partner. That the Howland murders, as well as a string of violent robberies, are solved less by painstaking police work than by sheer chance is the closest Berger comes to his usual irony, though he is clearly sympathetic to the police and their struggle to avoid cynical views of human nature. The unlikely friendship that develops between Lloyd and Moody offers some sentimentality atypical of the ever-evolving Berger.
Though Berger probably intends Suspects to be an example of pure fiction, it does comment on the hypocrisies of small-town life. The neighbor who kills the Howlands thinks that a murderer is less evil than what he terms a sex maniac. Many of Berger’s men fear and mistrust sex. Lloyd is confused by his feelings for Donna and is capable of having sex only with prostitutes, never with “nice” women. Another Berger target is the American obsession with the media. The killer, who sees himself as an exemplary citizen, wants to confess to a television news team rather than to Moody and LeBeau. The killer’s defense of his actions represents one of Berger’s best explorations of how language can be distorted into the banality of evil. The matter-of-fact tone of Suspects makes the revelation of the killer and his motives all the more shocking. The novel’s greatest strengths are the sharply drawn characters, especially with the complicated motivations of Lloyd, who is preoccupied with not seeming phony, and Moody, who retreats from the chaos of life by allowing his work to engulf him.
Bibliography
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