We Would Never

Tova Mirvis's fourth novel, We Would Never, tells the taut story of an acrimonious divorce case gone horribly wrong. Inspired by real-life headlines, this gripping mystery explores the before and after of a murder, as the victim's soon-to-be-ex-wife comes under suspicion and her family huddles around to protect her, but also to conceal some unpleasant truths. As she did with her previous works set in Orthodox Jewish communities, Mirvis expertly digs into the dynamics of a tight-knit group: here, it's a nuclear family that might seem perfect to onlookers yet hides more than its fair share of secrets and betrayals under a wholesome façade.

The book opens in 2019, in the aftermath of a shocking crime. Twenty miles outside Bangor, Maine, a woman is sheltering in a cabin with her sleeping daughter, watching YouTube footage of someone being interrogated about the murder of her husband. In the middle of a contentious divorce, Jonah Gelman, a SUNY professor about to release his second novel, was shot dead in his Binghamton home. Suspicion inevitably falls on his wife, at least initially. "I would never do something like that. My family would never do anything so awful," the woman in the video insists to the police.

"It's impossible to believe that the woman on the screen is me," the narrator marvels. Thus readers are introduced to Hailey Marcus Gelman: daughter of Solomon and Sherry Marcus of West Palm Beach, Fla.; younger sister to Nate, a rising dermatologist, and Adam, who runs a dog shelter; and mother of young Maya.

A deft structure intersperses short passages of Hailey's present-tense narration with extended flashbacks to earlier moments in her marriage and family life, ultimately focusing on the mid-divorce weeks she spent at her parents' Florida home. Through the use of the close third person, Mirvis gives intimate access to the thoughts and motivations of the members of the Marcus family. Patriarch Sol was devastated when, early in his aborted academic career, his department chair appropriated his research. Sherry is desperate to preserve the image of a warm family, even though Adam has never felt he fits in and has been estranged from her for years because of a tragic accident that occurred during Hailey's wedding festivities. Nate, though self-assured and sometimes glib, struggles with the ethics of some of his decisions.

Sol's dermatology clinic is a true family affair. Sherry is the secretary; Nate has gradually shouldered an equal share of the patients and plans to take over once Sol retires. But even in this cozy arrangement, multiple complications arise. Sol feels betrayed that Nate has been furtively steering the business toward cosmetic services. He and Sherry are unaware that Nate has been seeing Tara, the office manager, even though she has a son by her long-term fiancé. And the whole family is soon rocked by news that Sol has Parkinson's disease and will not be able to practice for much longer. Nate's casual musing ends up providing an astute assessment of the Marcuses: "Everyone was damaged. Only some people bore evidence on the surface."  

Meanwhile, Hailey's divorce is simmering. She and Jonah, who is opinionated and brash, argue via text messages. Petty matters take on outsized significance, as when Maya's favorite stuffed bunny becomes a bargaining chip. At a hearing, Hailey petitions the judge to be allowed to move to Florida with Maya. She had never wanted to live in Binghamton but agreed to because of Jonah's job. Jonah objects vociferously to his daughter moving so far away from him. At this tense moment, Nate proposes to Sherry that she--without telling Sol--make Jonah an offer of $250,000 to accept Hailey's move to Florida. But Jonah refuses. He always hated Florida, thought Sherry was controlling, and strived throughout his marriage to keep at a remove from Hailey's family; he certainly feels justified in his poor opinion after the bribery attempt.

Hailey recalls that, as she was growing up, "her mother's favorite saying was that they were a family who would do anything for each other." Now, as she looks back on events several months after the murder while staying at Adam's remote rural compound, she wonders what really happened after Jonah rejected the money. Did she unconsciously doom him by wishing him dead? Conversations that seemed like harmless banter at the time--Nate joking that Sherry could kill Jonah and bury him out back--aren't so funny now. But Sherry vowed that no one in the family had anything to do with Jonah's death, and Hailey believes her.

The dramatic irony between Hailey's knowledge and the additional facts revealed in the novel's pages augment the suspense. Mirvis keeps readers guessing, paving the way for a key twist at the three-quarter point, as well as a major switchback later on. We Would Never poses compelling questions about families' secrets and self-mythologizing, taking a fraught situation and ratcheting up the extreme incidents and emotions until it's finally revealed who would--and did--turn to murder. --Rebecca Foster

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