Monday Monday by Elizabeth Crook

Austin author Elizabeth Crook has seemingly grafted two entirely different stories together to create one novel, with only a tenuous connection between the two parts. The first story is an account of the first mass murder in U.S. history, the killing spree of Charles Whitman, the sniper who killed 16 people and injured dozens more from the clock tower of The University of Texas in 1966. The second story concerns the subsequent lives of three of the survivors of the carnage, but the connection to the first part seems to be only one of shared characters and could just as easily have occurred without the tragedy beforehand.

The events of the massacre are all recounted in the riveting first chapter, which is extremely well done. The details are specific and visceral and immediate, so that the reader feels very present. If the whole book had been written with this high standard and if the two parts had connected better, this would have been an outstanding book.

Unfortunately the rest of the book, the life stories of three of the survivors, reads like the plot of a soap opera or a Lifetime movie. We have an illicit love affair, a baby given up for adoption, lies told, truths revealed, and so on. I'm not saying this is poorly written or without interest, but it is predictable and somewhat lackluster.

One plus for readers who are familiar with Austin, particularly as it was in the '60s, is the specificity of the many references to places and landscapes. There's something fascinating about reading a novel and being able to say to yourself, "Yes, I've been there. That's what it's like." Of course, for those unfortunates who have never been to Austin, all this would be very much beside the point.

I would characterize this as light summer reading, suitable for vacations or by the poolside.