Something in the Shadows/Intimate Victims

by Vin Packer

SOMETHING IN THE SHADOWSIt begins on an upstate country road. Joseph Meaker is following a Mercedes-Benz on his way home when the driver ahead of him swerves suddenly and runs over something in the road. Curious, Joseph stops--and finds his treasured cat, Ishmael, dying in the road. Grief-stricken, all he can ask himself is what kind of person would drive over an animal like this. He tracks the Mercedes to his neighbors, Dr. Louis Hart and his wife Janice. Joseph's wife, Maggie, thinks he should confront the doctor and be done with it. But that isn't Joseph's way. Joseph doesn't intend to get over it—he intends to get even.INTIMATE VICTIMSRobert Bowser had embezzled exactly $100,043.77. He had written the farewell note to his wife and was ready to escape down to Brazil. Unfortunately, young social-wannabe Harvey Plangman finds the note. Plangman had always wanted to be rich, to be accepted into the moneyed world. He saw his chance, and blackmailed Bowser into trading places with him. Bowser moves into Plangman's small campus rooming house, while Plangman settles into an upscale New York apartment. It was the perfect switch—Bowser found himself enjoying the freedom of his new surroundings, and Plangman worked hard at ingratiating himself into his new world. It almost worked.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Marijane Meaker (born May 27, 1927) is an American novelist and short story writer in several genres using different pen names. From 1952 to 1969 she wrote twenty mystery and crime novels as Vin Packer, including Spring Fire which is credited with launching the genre of lesbian pulp fiction (although few of Packer's books address homosexuality or feature gay characters). Using her own observations of lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s, she wrote a series of nonfiction books as Ann Aldrich from 1955 to 1972. In 1972 she switched genres and pen names once more to begin writing for young adults, and became quite successful as M.E. Kerr, producing over 20 novels and winning multiple awards, including the American Library Association's lifetime award for young-adult literature (Edwards Award). She was described by The New York Times Book Review as "one of the grand masters of young adult fiction." As Mary James, she has written four books for younger children.

Regardless of genre or pen name, Meaker's books have in common complex characters that have difficult relationships and complicated problems, who rail against conformity. Meaker said of this approach, "I was a bookworm and a poetry lover. When I think of myself and what I would have liked to have found in books those many years ago, I remember being depressed by all the neatly tied-up, happy-ending stories, the abundance of winners, the themes of winning, solving, finding — when around me it didn't seem that easy. So I write with a different feeling when I write for young adults. I guess I write for myself at that age."

Reviews

[Lou Columbus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is only for the first title "Something In The Shadows". While I enjoyed this short novel from the era of dimestore thrillers, it ultimately fell flat for me. It is very well written, much better than one would expect, but I didn't buy into the dramatic impetus of the plot. The ending also seemed disappointing.