Idaho by Emily Ruskovich

I have always been a fan of mysteries.  Strange as it may sound, I especially like murder mysteries where I can insinuate myself into the role of detective in order to solve the case.  That being said, the murder mystery, Idaho by Emily Ruskovich, was not a book that lent itself to this pursuit.  Ruskovich wrote this novel as an omniscient narrator who jumped from character to character in a stream of consciousness prose style that was mesmerizing in its ability to pull the reader in without really giving any answers away.  The storyline is built around three characters:  Ann the primary storyteller; Wade her husband who suffers from dementia and Jenny, Wade's first wife who murdered their daughter, May.  Throughout the novel Ann's love for Wade never wavors even though she is plagued by his inability to or reticence to tell her what happened on that fateful day on the mountain when May was killed and June, his older daughter, disappeared.  We as readers are dragged along looking for clues, extrapolating information from the tiniest of references, trying desperately to figure out what happened.  Did Jenny know that Wade had fallen in love with Ann causing her to snap?  Did her long periods of isolation on the mountain drive her slowly insane?  Was Wade culpable in anyway?  Ruskovich's writing was intentionally vague and yet we are drawn to these characters and their sad stories.  I cannot say I enjoyed this book, but I was impressed with the writing and involved in the story from the beginning.  This is not your typical mystery, but it is a mystery you will think about and talk about long after you finish reading.  That is a credit to the author.  I look forward to other books by her.