PotsandPlots

C.B. Everett wrote the extremely readable, The Other People. This was a “wow, I did not see that coming” homage to And Then There Were None.

His follow-up, The Final Chapter, is a rather different affair. Less propulsive in tone, but no less enthralling. It is an intriguing crime novel with an Inception vibe.

Growing Information:

Plant With: Crime Fiction, Literary Fiction, Identity

Grows Into: A peculiar crime novel, where everything is to be questioned.

Rating: Vibrant Annual 🌻🌻(Check here for rating information.)

Available now in paperback (affiliate link).

The Review:

The Final Chapter is presented as a novel within a novel. “Russian Doll,” we’re told, is by Jonathan Durward and it’s introduced, annotated and edited by C.B. Everett. We’re then told via a “Publisher’s note” that the publisher has cut ties with Everett and does not condone any of his actions. It also says that subsequent events surrounding Everett are infamous, and that the decision to publish the book was not taken lightly.

Intriguing, huh?

Durward, it turns out, was a literary sensation. Publishing literary fiction to great acclaim, including Hollywood deals and adaptations, before disappearing. Many years later, the manuscript of Russian Doll appears. A condition of its publication is that Everett does the editing.

Everett tells us via his notes that there is a wealth of information and Easter eggs hidden within the text of Russian Doll. In particular, there are many personal messages from Durward to decode.

So we have 3 books to process here, nested like, err, a Russian doll.

There’s the manuscript of Russian Doll, there’s Everett’s footnotes and explanations, and then there’s the space where the two intersect. Unreliable narrators and publishing ambition combine to make a heady mix of intrigue and misdirection.

Unlike The Other People, which sinks its hooks into the reader from the outset, The Final Chapter is more of a grower. Since it consists of two stories, the narrative is necessarily fragmented. The fact that one of those stories isn’t a traditional narrative further breaks the flow. As you read, however, you start to appreciate Everett’s voice and revel in the deeper explanations of Durward’s process, and the salacious details from his literary life.

Before long, I was hooked.

Nothing Is Real.

Russian Doll is an espionage novel, filled with people who change personas like you or I change our underwear. It’s slippery and malleable. As you read on, you realise that The Final Chapter is just the same. It is no coincidence that Durward’s narrator chooses the surname Nolan as a pseudonym. It’s a subtle foreshadowing of the fractured realities that Everett will construct for us.

Even the manuscript’s authenticity is in doubt. It is purported to have been written in 2009, but as Everett points out in his notes, 15 years between the date the book was supposedly written and the date it was delivered is enough time for anachronisms to creep in – who knew what an influencer was in 2009?

The book, with its slippery realities, reminded me a little of my previous read, Solace House. While the two books are only superficially similar, both have their reader wondering how the dice are going to land in the (if you’ll excuse the pun) final chapter.

The Final Chapter has a stronger finish than Solace House, perhaps because the reader knows that its multiple strands are concocted by characters in the book. When Everett finally chooses one thread, it reveals a pleasing conclusion. He perhaps cheats slightly by shifting narrative focus, but nevertheless, the secrets, and the manner in which they are laid bare brings the book to a satisfying conclusion.