Book Review: Ladykiller by Katherine Wood

Abby Corman and Gia Torres have been best friends almost all their lives. When Abby’s mother took the position as personal chef to the Torres family all those years ago, neither girl envisioned how close they would eventually become. Abby was dazzled by Gia’s charm and daredevil attitude, while Gia was steadied by Abby’s more sensible presence. Gia’s wealthy father Hugo even took a shine to Abby, paying for her schooling and vacations so that the best friends would never have to spend too much time apart.

Abby has since grown up to be a corporate lawyer, while Gia travels the world as an acclaimed memoirist. The women keep in constant touch, but even so, Abby is taken aback at receiving an unexpected wedding invitation from her bestie. Gia has only been dating Garett Hoegg for a few weeks now, but is certain that theirs is a lasting passion worthy of matrimony. Both Abby and Benny, Gia’s younger brother, caution her to take more time. Gia agrees to get Garrett to at least sign a prenup but marries him almost immediately after. The newlyweds then jet off to live on the Greek estate where Gia, Abby and Benny spent so many of their own summers growing up.

As is the way of such things, Gia soon comes to regret her hastiness. She doesn’t mind giving Garrett money to help tide over his shipping business, but other facets of his personality begin to bother her more and more. When Benny comes to visit with his latest actress girlfriend in tow, things come to a head, with Gia taking an intense dislike to the newcomer:

It’s unfortunate, because I haven’t seen my brother in months and I’d like to spend some quality time with him, but not if it means spending time with her. Or even worse, leaving her alone with Garrett.

 

Though perhaps she’d be doing me a favor, taking him off my hands.

 

I don’t mean that. But after yesterday, I think it’s safe to say the honeymoon is over, and I wonder if I made the right choice in marrying him. I wanted passion and excitement and unpredictability, but maybe those aren’t the right ingredients for a marriage. Maybe Abby was right.

Several months later, Benny and Abby each get an invitation to celebrate Gia’s thirtieth birthday with her in Sweden, just the three of them once more. They’re surprised but willing enough to upend their schedules to meet, especially since they’re both starting to suspect that Gia has finally come to her senses regarding her hasty marriage. But when Gia doesn’t show up, sending only a series of increasingly weird and unlikely emails to excuse herself, the pair decide to fly to Greece to figure out what’s going on. 

Abby does not have the best memories of the last extended period of time she spent on the islands. If the typewritten memoir she and Benny find in the deserted Torres estate is any indication, Greece hasn’t been the happiest place for Gia recently either. As they begin to search for their missing loved one, the manuscript becomes their main source of clues. Will they be able to follow it and find her before the very worst happens?

Told from the perspectives of both Abby and Gia, this is a novel that examines the cost of keeping up appearances while harboring devastating secrets. Despite their seeming closeness, Abby and Gia have plenty to hide, from the world and from each other. Soon enough, Abby’s quest to find her friend has her unsure of whether she’s become inextricably entangled in someone’s sick idea of vengeance for crimes Abby long thought buried. When she tries to come clean to a local authority about what really happened the last time she was in Greece, he gives her some sage advice, under the guise of asking if she knows what a remora is:

“It’s a fish about this big”–he held his hands three feet apart–”with a suction cup it uses to latch onto sharks. The remora keeps the shark clean, and the shark provides protection and food for the remora. But if the remora becomes too annoying, or the shark is particularly hungry, it will eat the remora.”

 

I drew back. “Are you saying I’m a… parasite?”

 

He shook his head. “It’s a mutually beneficial relationship between the shark and the remora, but the shark always has the upper hand. Do you understand what I’m saying? A shark may provide for you, but it will never be your friend.[“]

The social commentary is pitch perfect in this novel of wealthy killers and thieves. Ladykiller has all the intoxicating ingredients of a thrilling beach read, with its unreliable narrators and gorgeous settings, but chooses to inject a dose of elevated literary philosophy into the mix towards the end. Even as a reader who is deeply in love with metafiction, I thought that the ambiguous ending was not as strong as the rest of the otherwise solidly glamorous and sordidly sensational novel. That same ending does, however, provide an interesting change of pace from the rest of the subgenre, with the novel as a whole being an entertaining riff on jetsetting summer escapism.