LOOKER

Narrator Katherine Fenton amplifies the growing sense of foreboding in this story about a big-city college instructor's growing obsession with her famous actress neighbor, whose family includes her husband, a screenwriter, and three children. As everything unravels for the unnamed protagonist--she can't have a baby, her marriage is over, she has a troublesome student--she can't stop fantasizing about and spying on the actress, vacillating between imagining being her new best friend and feeling overwhelming jealousy of her fertility and happiness. Fenton's portrayal of the main character's erratic personality and disturbing behavior are spot-on, and she smoothly matches her pace to the protagonist's cycle of manic desperation and creepy focus. An excellent performance, however, cannot compensate for the unsatisfying ending of this contemporary thriller. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2019]