MADreads

Secrets

February 12th, 2009 Lesley - Central

Madison author Rae Meadows’ second novel No One Tells Everything began as a real murder case between two college students.  After reading of the case Meadows’ made it into a fictional account of a thirty-something copy editor who spends her evenings in Brooklyn getting drunk at a neighborhood bar and a college student who confesses to murder.

When Sarah Shafer, a student at Emeryville College on Long Island is reported missing and later found murdered, fellow student Charles Raggatt is arrested and confesses to the crime.  The newspaper account draws the attention of Grace, a copy editor at a weekly news magazine, especially after she discovers that she and Raggatt both grew up in the suburban Cleveland area.  Told through alternating points of view between the two characters it soon becomes clear that Charles is guilty of the crime.

Grace’s obsession with the case results in visits to the campus and interviews with people who knew both Charles and Sarah.  She also starts writing letters to Charles while he’s in jail.  When Grace’s father suffers a stroke, she takes a leave from her job, goes back to Cleveland and while there visits Charles’ childhood home and tracks down his high school classmates.

This is not your average mystery.  This is actually a book of secrets.  From the tragic death of Grace’s sister, to Charles, the son of wealthy parents used by his classmates for money and Sarah, the popular party girl with her own hidden life, everyone has them.  Meadows uses that fact to good effect in this thoughtful novel.

Entry Filed under: Literary Fiction