Those Who Knew by Idra Novey

"People are too desperate for a hero."

Lena, a college student from a wealthy island family, turns activist and gets involved with the charismatic future senator, Victor, and has a fling with him while they are planning and organizing demonstrations in support of reduced tuition for the islanders. The people who live on this unnamed island have barely recovered from atrocities committed against them while under a fascist regime supported and financed by the North (the USA?) Victor is a rising political star but is given to bouts of tremendous rage and in one of those episodes, he assaults and nearly strangles Lena. She doesn't report it and when, several years later, it appears that Victor may have killed a young woman, Lena wants him held accountable. The people she tells about her assault believe her and agree that someone needs to confront Victor about Maria P. What follows is a twisty narrative, interspersed with diary entries and screen play notes that flips back and forth in point of view, in time and place. Will Victor be outed and get his just due? NO SPOILERS.

I'm not quite sure what I think about this book. Was it interesting? Yes, enough to hold my interest though I definitely did not like the writing style and I was especially put off by the screen play segments. Did the novel have anything new or original to impart? Not really -- you'd have to be living under a rock in the desert for a thousand years not to know that male politicians get away with murder and all sorts of other tawdry and despicable crimes. The urge for revenge or to hold that person responsible is tremendous and not often successful. I think the setting and the characters are meant to make us believe that even the least well-placed among us (misfits?) can bring some sort of justice for those harmed and that staying silent is not ever the best response despite the outcry and response that is likely to occur.

The characters were an interesting conglomerate of Islanders and outsiders and each had a part to play in telling the story but I really couldn't identify with any of them. I'm not sure that leaving so much "unnamed" was for the best as I found it hard to relate and to really buy in to the drama in some respects. Perhaps it was to avoid stereotyping or labeling but you will find all sorts of diversity within. The book was engaging enough that I read it in a single sitting and took awhile to digest it all before trying to put my thoughts and reactions into a review. It's definitely outside my usual genre and was not exactly what I was expecting from just reading the synopsis.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking for the e-book ARC to read and review.

This is a standalone novel and is not part of any series.