Acts of Violet

by Margarita Montimore

Overall: while this is the first book of Montimore’s that I’ve read, it won’t be the last! I love true crime, podcasts, family dramas, magic, and show business; Acts of Violet combines these elements into a story that I binged in 24 hours. Violet Volk, the name adopted by the woman born Varushka Volkov, has been missing for 10 years. Did she stage her own disappearance? Was she kidnapped? Is she dead? No one knows. The 10-year anniversary weighs on her younger sister Sasha, who’s been trying to survive in Violet’s wake for her whole life. Sasha’s happily married, owns her own hair salon, and has a daughter, Quin, about to graduate college, but she’s plagued by money troubles and haunted by her unrepaired estrangement from Violet. Now an aspiring journalist named Cameron Frank is producing a tell-all podcast about the disappearance that promises to stir up trouble. If you enjoyed The Prestige, The Illusionist, or Now You See It, or you like twisty, non-linear mysteries with a dollop of the weird and unexplained, like Memento, Inception, or even The Sixth Sense, you will likely enjoy this book.

Likes: I enjoyed the format, which alternates between narration by Sasha, emails, letters, newspaper and magazine articles, and transcripts of Cameron’s podcast episodes, in a modern update on the epistolary novel. The book raises interesting questions about the line between science and pseudoscience, how helpful or how damaging the true crime industry can be to victims’ families, and how much we can ever really know another person. There’s also a strong undercurrent of science fiction that I loved.

Dislikes: Everything involving Quin, Sasha’s daughter, irritated me. I felt Quin’s underhanded behavior didn’t square with her parents’ doting adoration. If a child of mine directly invaded my privacy, I would have a big problem with it! Quin’s parents’ concern over her sexual identity and gender orientation also seemed invasive, given that she’s 21, not 14. But please don’t let these minor quibbles about one character deter you from reading this!

FYI: Child endangerment, violence, loss of a parent, accidental death, chronic illness.