The Complicities

 

 I received a copy of this release from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Complicities 

Author: Stacey D'Erasmo 

Publisher: Algonquin

Release Date: 9.20.22

Publisher’s Summary 

After her husband Alan’s financial crimes come to light, Suzanne's wealthy, comfortable life shatters. Alan goes to prison. Suzanne files for divorce, decamps to a barely middle-class Massachusetts beach town, and begins to create a new life and identity. Ignoring a steady stream of calls from Norfolk State Prison, she tries to cleanse herself of all connections to her ex-husband. She tells herself that he, not she, committed the crimes.

Then Alan is released early from prison, and the many people whose lives he ruined are demanding restitution. But the last of the money went to Suzanne, who, feeling righteous, donates it instead to an oceanic foundation. The consequences of Suzanne’s apparently high-minded decision ripple with devastating effect not only through Alan’s life as he tries to rebuild, but also through the lives of Suzanne and Alan’s son, Alan’s new wife, his estranged mother, and, ultimately, Suzanne herself.

When damage is done, who pays? Who loses? Who is responsible? How long is the half-life of a crime?

In a story of the complexities surrounding one white-collar criminal, The Complicities examines the ways in which the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves—that we didn’t know, we weren’t there, we didn’t really understand—are also finally stories of our own deep complicity.

My Review

We've all seen the downfall of schemers on the news. Have you ever wondered about their families? How much do they really know and what happens to them now. How deep are their complicities? In this story we meet Alan and try to unravel his web of deceit, mostly through the eyes of his wife Suzanne, who has divorced and distanced herself from both her husband and her son. I flip-flopped back and forth between feeling sad and sorry for every character in this story and then the next minute fuming, thinking "well, what did you expect to happen?!"

This isn't a big *wow* novel but it is definitely a great character study into the ripple effect of white-collar crime and the lies we tell ourselves and others.