Review: So Fair, So Evil

So Fair, So Evil by Paul Connolly (Tom Wicker)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"So Fair, So Evil" is an ambitious Southern Gothic and psychological thriller narrated by main character Frank Sinclair, an engineer and northerner, who marries into a rich, old-wealth family in the American Deep South. Frank goes off to the Korean War and ends up in a mental hospital where he learns that his wife Dolly has been killed in an apparent suicide. Determined to prove that his wife was actually murdered, Frank returns home causing an enormous disruption amongst the large cast of idle rich folks populating the grand Southern family estate. These pretentious snobs never accepted Frank as one of their own, and they alienate him, perhaps to distance themselves from his lowly heritage, or to keep hidden the deep secrets that they themselves harbor. The novel does a nice job of portraying the rich and powerful families of the mid 20th century American Deep South while providing a good murder mystery. Kinds of reminds me of a Jim Thompson story as if written by William Faulkner.