Double Bind

by Chris Bohjalian

From the bestselling author of The Flight Attendant, here is a gripping psychological novel of obsession and consequence.

When Laurel Estabrook is attacked while riding her bicycle through Vermont’s back roads, her life is forever changed. Formerly outgoing, Laurel withdraws into her photography, spending all her free time at a homeless shelter. There she meets Bobbie Crocker, a man with a history of mental illness and a box of photographs that he won’t let anyone see. When Bobbie dies, Laurel discovers a deeply hidden secret–a story that leads her far from her old life, and into a cat-and-mouse game with pursuers who claim they want to save her.

In a tale that travels between the Roaring Twenties and the twenty-first century, between Jay Gatsby’s Long Island and rural New England, bestselling author Chris Bohjalian has written an extraordinary novel.

• ISBN10: 1299106811
• ISBN13: 9781299106819
• Publish Date: 1 January 2008 (first published 13 February 2007)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 8 April 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Vintage
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[ibeforem]

The first thing I did before I started this book was head to Wikipedia and read a summary of The Great Gatsby, since it’s been 12+ years since I read it, and it’s really an integral part of this book. I recommend that to anyone who picks this up.

I often start thinking about what I’m going to say about a book before I finish it. As I neared the end of this, my thoughts were “this wasn’t as good as Midwives or Water Witches“. Then, Bohjalian gives you a very M. Night Shyamalan-esque twist that completely redeems the story and made me go back and reread parts, to see if I should have seen it coming. Laurel’s behavior throughout the book is very strange, but by the end, it all makes sense.

All in all, this is a slow starter, but it’s worth it in the end.