Practical Jean

June 20, 2011
In his U.S. debut, Canadian novelist Cole delivers a cagey satirical noir featuring a deranged killer as low-key and matter-of-fact as any of Jim Thompson's introspective monsters. Jean Vale Horemarsh, from the fictional "bedroom community" of Kotemee, is a middle-aged wife and potter/sculptor who, after three months of caring for her dying mother, arrives at the perverse belief that death is the ultimate liberation for those closest to her. After discovering that her husband is having an affair with her friend Louise, Jean moves in with another friend, Natalie. She then sets in motion her "practical" theory of death by giving three of her friends, including Natalie, a "Last Poem." Then, to spare them from old age or a drab life, she slays them all. Wicked humor glints kitchen-knife bright as the unhinged Jean blithely traverses the suburbs dispensing her most intimate friends. An impromptu trip to New York's Finger Lakes region, where she surprises a "long-lost friend," finds the gory mayhem unravelingâand Jean as well; "it all went crappy," we're told. Crime fiction fans who hang on long enough to grasp the slow burn of Jean's muted irrationality, and the spot-on lampoon of modern suburban life, will reap Cole's wonderfully bitter fruits.