The Little Friend – Donna Tartt

Looking at the online reviews of Donna Tartt’s second novel after the blockbusting (and ace) The Secret History, many of them complain that it doesn’t have an ending. Actually, the narrative pulls off the same trick as Orson Welles’ masterpiece Touch of Evil, in that the story opens with a murder mystery but by the end the resolution of the mystery has become incidental to the tale’s central concerns. It worked fine for me.

This is primarily an exercise in mood, specifically the tone of Southern Gothic epitomised by Faulkner (with the teenage heroine very reminiscent of To Kill A Mockingbird’s Scout). The faded aristocracy, black servants and white trash are all represented effectively, and the swampy atmosphere will remain with me long after the plot intricacies are forgotten.