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toreadistovoyage 's review for:
Dominance
by Will Lavender
I received this novel through a First Reads giveaway. Thanks!
Dominance, by Will Lavender, is an intriguing mystery novel which has a 1994 story line and a present day story line, the former having much influence on the latter. In 1994 nine students at Jasper College are selected to take part in a special course taught by Richard Aldiss, a former professor who is in prison for murdering two college students in 1982.
Aldiss's class is not so much a regular literature course as it is a way for him to get exonerated for the murders he may or may not have committed. Aldiss instructs his students, via a television which broadcasts him from prison, that their assignment is to discover who is the real Paul Fallows - a mysterious, reclusive, unidentified author. The students have mixed feelings about Aldiss, his guilt, his assignment, and each other.
Another aspect of this is the "Procedure"; a game the students are always playing - whether they are aware of it or not.
Alex Shipley, one of the nine students and, in the modern story line, a professor at Harvard, can be said to be the main character in this novel. She is highly intelligent, about to graduate and move on to Harvard graduate school. She finds clues where the other students do not think to look - clues which ultimately lead her to discover the truth.
The modern day story line again brings together the students of Aldiss's night class. However, two students are deceased: one from an apparent suicide and one murdered with the exact methodology as the two girls Aldiss murdered. The remaining seven students gather for the memorial of their murdered classmate. This, unfortunately, is all part of a game, again the Procedure - one that results with more deaths.
This is a quick read; I read it in a few hours. The characters are fairly well developed. Lavender does a great job of weaving the two time lines together and keeping the reader in suspense. One of the major "twists" - who is responsible for the murders - was identified early in the novel (I think it was one particular sentence that gave it away.) However, there were several other twists that I did not predict - such as the one in the last chapter.
Overall, this was an entertaining novel and I look forward to reading other works by Lavender.
Dominance, by Will Lavender, is an intriguing mystery novel which has a 1994 story line and a present day story line, the former having much influence on the latter. In 1994 nine students at Jasper College are selected to take part in a special course taught by Richard Aldiss, a former professor who is in prison for murdering two college students in 1982.
Aldiss's class is not so much a regular literature course as it is a way for him to get exonerated for the murders he may or may not have committed. Aldiss instructs his students, via a television which broadcasts him from prison, that their assignment is to discover who is the real Paul Fallows - a mysterious, reclusive, unidentified author. The students have mixed feelings about Aldiss, his guilt, his assignment, and each other.
Another aspect of this is the "Procedure"; a game the students are always playing - whether they are aware of it or not.
Alex Shipley, one of the nine students and, in the modern story line, a professor at Harvard, can be said to be the main character in this novel. She is highly intelligent, about to graduate and move on to Harvard graduate school. She finds clues where the other students do not think to look - clues which ultimately lead her to discover the truth.
The modern day story line again brings together the students of Aldiss's night class. However, two students are deceased: one from an apparent suicide and one murdered with the exact methodology as the two girls Aldiss murdered. The remaining seven students gather for the memorial of their murdered classmate. This, unfortunately, is all part of a game, again the Procedure - one that results with more deaths.
This is a quick read; I read it in a few hours. The characters are fairly well developed. Lavender does a great job of weaving the two time lines together and keeping the reader in suspense. One of the major "twists" - who is responsible for the murders - was identified early in the novel (I think it was one particular sentence that gave it away.) However, there were several other twists that I did not predict - such as the one in the last chapter.
Overall, this was an entertaining novel and I look forward to reading other works by Lavender.