The Woman Who Lost Her Soul

19 of 24
The Woman Who Lost Her Soul
640 pages; Atlantic Monthly Press
What is the legacy of war—and how long does it last—are the questions behind this brilliant, utterly gripping novel. Humanitarian lawyer Tom Harrington heads to devastated Haiti to investigate the murder of one Jackie Scott, a photographer who so obsessed him, that "even in her death he was without a cure for her." Jackie, he discovers, has left behind a plethora of unanswered questions: a string of former names, a lethal ex-husband plus a half-dozen government officials, mercenaries and operatives who want to impede the solving of the crime. The novel may sound like a thriller, but it's not; it's an agonizing portrait of two wrecked human beings who tried to figure out how they got so wrecked. When the plot hurtles back in time to World War II, and then around the globe to Istanbul in the more recent 1980s, the themes become ever more complex and universal, raising questions about what happens to people (and there are so many more than we realize) who are raised and shaped by violence. A dark, gasp-worthy masterpiece...but not for the fainthearted.
— Leigh Newman