The Double Bind

by Chris Bohjalian

When she was in college, Laurel Estabrook survived a brutal attack on a Vermont bike trail. Some six years later, she is working in a homeless shelter and is as fragile as ever.

The death of one of the shelter’s clients brings her attack back into the forefront. Bobbie Crocker had very few possessions, but he did leave a box full of photographs. As a photographer, he shot many famous people and places, including a photo of a young woman on a bicycle trail in Vermont. A young woman who resembles Laurel.

Was Bobbie there? Did he witness Laurel’s attack? Why does he have a photograph of the woman? These and many other questions plague Laurel as she struggles to discover the identity of Bobbie Crocker.

Without revealing too much, this novel also borrows from The Great Gatsby. To me, this is only interesting because the last book I read borrowed from Hamlet.

The Double Bind is engrossing and extremely difficult to put down, but the ending? Well, the ending was sort of lame. But I still recommend the novel.

3/5/07