Book Review >>>>> Tana French, >The Witch Elm< (New York: Penguin/Random House, 2019)

Tana French, The Witch Elm (New York:  Penguin/Random House, 2019)

 

Tana French’s The Witch Elm Is an enormously well-conceived, well-structured, adroitly written novel that qualifies both as a superior literary work and a page-turning mystery.

 

The novel features two main mysteries, both involving protagonist Toby Hennessy:

 

The first focuses on an incident that occurs in Toby’s apartment after an unusual situation at his place of employment, an art gallery for which Toby serves as communications director:

 

A fellow employee and aspiring artist, Tiernan, convinces Toby and his boss, Richard, the executive director of the gallery, to feature an exhibition of young artists living in challenging circumstances at the urban core whose work portrays the gritty conditions of their lives.  Preparations seem primed for a display that has caught the avid attention of the general public, wealthy patrons, and donors as a result of Toby’s deft advertising work;  then he discovers that the paintings, including prominently those attributed to a young man known as “Gouger,” are not the work of the street artists but rather Tiernan.  Tiernan had long sulked at the lack of recognition for his work and hatched the scheme as a ruse to gain a viewing for his paintings.

 

Toby ponders the situation and ultimately decides not to reveal the scheme to Richard;  when the scheme is nevertheless discovered, Richard conveys a sense of disappointment to Toby for not telling him the truth about the exhibit, but he decides to let the exhibit go forward under the false pretenses that the paintings are indeed those of the urban youth.  Soon after the opening day for the exhibit, Toby is attacked and badly hurt by two burglars who enter his apartment, crack his skull, and make away with several items.

 

The episode dramatically changes the course of Toby’s life.  Formerly, he was a bright young man approaching thirty years of age who seemed destined to move on to a position at a larger professional entity with considerably elevated salary.  But in the aftermath of the burglary, while Toby substantially recovered, he did not escape some neural damage;  in all likelihood, he would return to the gainful workforce but in a reduced capacity for achieving high earning power and status. 

 

As to the burglary, who could be suspects?  Detectives Gerry Martin and Colm Bannon (dubbed “Flashy Suit” by Toby) want to find out.  Toby answers their questions as to the circumstances of his life, people in his social universe, and any ideas that he might have as to who would want to steal from him or do him harm.  But Toby does not tell the detectives of the art gallery ruse, claiming falsely that youngsters at the urban core had painted the works that in fact Tiernan had produced.

 

The matter of the false claims for a well-attended showing haunts Toby and becomes a fact of life, along with his altered neural condition:  Would he be found out?  Had Tiernan and he and Richard committed a criminal offense?  Were the circumstances pertinent to the gallery showing somehow related to the attack he sustained at his apartment?

 

……………………………………………………………………………….

 

With this mystery lingering, a second develops:

 

Toby’s uncle Hugo, who lives at the family retreat know as the “Ivy House,” is dying of cancer.  Toby offers himself as his caretaker and, in the many months before Hugo dies, assists him in his work as a genealogist employed by those seeking details as to their family histories.  On a Sunday like many, in which the extended family gathers for a jointly homecooked dinner, cousin Susanna’s children---  Zach and Sallie---  suddenly scream loudly in stark fear from the large back yard of the Ivy House.  An investigation turns up a skeletal head and eventually other objects and skeletal parts in the hollowed (though live) tree where the children had been playing, raising the question:  Who is this?  Did the person die of an accident?  murder?  self-inflicted harm?

 

Here another set of detectives, Mike Rafferty and his partner, introduced only as “Detective Kerry,” enter the story.  Their questioning of members of the family and conversations among family members themselves seem to indicate the most likely perpetrator, with the suspicions shifting over time.  Rafferty, Kerry, and their forensic team ultimately identify the victim as a person by the name of Dominic Ganly, a high school mate of Toby, Susanna, and another cousin, Leon.  Dominic had disappeared shortly after having done poorly in senior high school exit exams, leading to the conclusion that he had committed suicide, perhaps by jumping into and drowning in the ocean. 

 

But Rafferty and Kerry determine from the evidence in the wych elm that suicide was unlikely.  The investigation and conversations among the cousins induce recall that Susanna and Leon had each clashed with Dominic at times.  Uncle Hugo had long served as the main occupant of the house;  he seemed not to be a suspect, until he confessed to the murder well into the investigation.  Was he really a possible culprit, or was he protecting someone?  Even further into the investigation,

Toby--- who had not theretofore been seriously considered---  was reminded of an altercation that he and Dominic had had at a party soon after graduation;  he wondered if he had blocked memories of the violent act that was the focus of this investigation.

 

Who, then, was guilty of the murder?

 

What, in the meantime, were Martin and Flashy Suit finding out as to the burglary?

 

Both mysteries are ultimately resolved with surprising evidence and in the course of disturbing interactions near the novel’s conclusion.   Author French concludes these events with exceptional skill, utilizing whodunnit tropes as reference but with contemporary flourishes and deftly subtle narrative.  Her skill is manifest, too, in her development of every single character---  including the children, whereby Zach is an impudent torturer of adults who only briefly gets his comeuppance with the scare at the wych elm (a seeming “witch” elm, indeed);  while Sallie is a generally sweet but occasionally whiny younger sister who is frequently drawn into Zach’s schemes).

 

The plot and setting of the novel allow French to raise important questions, including economic inequality in the pursuit of legal justice;  the thin line between perceptible life success and life that falls very much short of such;  similarly, the thin border separating high legal standing in life and trouble with law;  also similarly, the fluidity of guilt and innocence in any given individual;  the fragility of loyalty among family, friends, and paramours (but also the possibility of loyalty that endures);  persistence and adaptability in life when confronting shifting and challenging circumstances;  and, hovering over all of these questions, the ultimate issue as to purpose and meaning of the earthly sojourn.

 

French’s The Witch Elm is an admirable work of literature and page-turning mystery (though relying on evolving, intriguing events, rather than the conventional chapter-ending teaser) that will leave readers enthralled, including at novel’s end, when French presents a scenario that proves even more thought-provoking than is the case throughout the narrative.