Safer

SAFER
Author: Sean Doolittle
Delacorte Press
Random House
2009
ISBN: 978-0-385-33898
$24.00
352 pages
Fiction-Married People, Domestic, City and Town Life, Iowa

“My wife, Sara, and I are hosting a faculty party at our home when the Clark Falls Police Department arrives to take me into custody.”

How do you prove that you did not commit a crime? Sure, we’ve always been told that in our country you are innocent until you are proven beyond a doubt to be guilty. Can someone fabricate evidence of you having sexual relations with a minor? What about if you really are innocent? How do you prove that you were not involved? How will people in your family and community ever trust you again?

Moving halfway across the country allows Paul and Sara Callaway to start over in Cedar Falls, Iowa as part of the local college community. Life isn’t so idealistic when Paul returns to his home on the first night in their new home and manages to rescue his wife from an attacker by using a golf club. To help reassure the new couple, the local neighborhood appears to welcome them into the community while also maintaining surveillance on the area. However, there is such a thing as too much surveillance.

When trying to establish yourself in a new neighborhood, where is the line between your privacy and the growing sense in being a part of your local community? Balancing the needs of your career, a marriage, a pregnancy, and the neighborhood can be a juggling act, especially when the neighborhood cheats.

The characters are realistic and likable. The neighborhood and the supporting characters are unfortunately, very lifelike. What I particularly enjoyed was the settings which are based around the Omaha/Council Bluffs metropolitan area. I was also wondering about how Petrows, a local family restaurant, enjoyed jumping over to the Iowa side of the river.

Sean Doolittle is the author of DIRT, BURN, RAIN DOGS, and THE CLEANUP. SAFER is his newest book. He currently lives in the Omaha/Council Bluff’s metropolitan area.

The book is unnervingly real. The terror and experiences of Paul are what adds to the suspense. Between the accusation and the overly protective neighborhood, Paul’s pressures with his wife and career seem petty. Also, things are seldom as they seem. Sometimes the best way out of a difficult and awkward situation is straight through it even if it is not easy and possibly bordering on illegal when it comes to truly investigating the crime.

Sean Doolittle continues his brilliant writing with SAFER which definitely does not make you feel safe.


Teri Davis October 3, 2009

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