Some years back, when I was lurking in the Ace Attorney fancase scene, one of the most famous
authors was “DWaM,” who was well known for cases that A. featured locked room murders and B. were very dark. (In retrospect, this was exaggerated.) For the latter reason (and because most AA cases wouldn’t run well on Internet Explorer and I didn’t know what Chrome and Firefox were), I stayed away from his work. Maybe I’d get to him another time. So imagine my shock when I saw JJ reviewing a self-published novella called The Leviathan’s Resting Place by…DWaM.
However, after thinking about it, I decided that this made sense. After all, the thing that kept me away from his work earlier (beyond my ignorance of browsers), was the alleged dark tone of his work applied to some of my favorite fictional characters. Now that he was writing original fiction, I could freely enjoy his plotting without feeling any pain in my gut.
Now, look at the date of JJ’s post. Now look at the date of my post. You’ll notice that it took me a while to follow through. Now, I have read some of his fiction before now, but this is the first time I’m reviewing any.
Our soon-to-be victim (?) is Otto Reylands, a successful CEO who’s getting ready for an advantageous merger. But there’s a fly in the ointment. Multiple flies, actually, in the form of death threats. The threats aren’t the problem, the problem is the disturbing pictures of a woman in red, "she was most certainly dead" that come with them. Otto’s behavior is getting increasingly erratic, including buying a trenchcoat he brings with him on a flight to Los Angeles to complete the merger. "Y'know, Philip Marlowe era." Joining him are his assistant (and our narrator) Navy Morre, his son Alan, his Chief Legal Advisor Ulysses Bell, and a lawyer from the other company, Celeste Styles. At first, things seem to be going well: The first class cabin Otto and his entourage have is the height of luxury, with individual sections for each of them. But there’s tension in the air; Otto accuses Navy before the flight of leaking information about the photographs, in spite of her denials. And then, while she’s trying to figure out what Otto wants her to admit to, the impossible happens.
After takeoff, Alan and Navy are talking when a man in a trenchcoat walks out of Otto’s cabin. He strolls past them to one of the cabin’s bathrooms…and never comes out. When Alan investigates, the man is gone, leaving a snake token of sorts behind. At first it seems like a bizarre joke, but soon it becomes clear that Otto’s not in first class. Or on the plane. And then his suitcases go missing. It’s like someone is trying to erase him completely…
I’ve read enough of DWaM’s work to know that he likes to machine-gun impossibilities at the reader, so I’ll leave it there, except to say things don’t get any smoother when the group arrives in L.A. By the end of the story, there’s been another impossible disappearance from a hotel room, a more mundane disappearance with another snake token left behind, and a body, shot through the head in an abandoned cabin.
The only real issues I have with the story are on a writing level; there are a few typos, and some of the characters sound very samey, especially when they’re discussing the various mysteries. But the key word is “discussing.” This is very much a mystery fan’s mystery story, with mysterious events and theories flying thick and fast. I was making more of an effort to solve this than I normally do with mysteries, and there were multiple times when I thought of a theory, or speculated where the story was about to go, and each time, DWaM either shot down my idea or took the story in just that direction, no fumbling about denying the obvious theory that would occur to most experienced readers.
The impossible crimes are good. I was more impressed with the past one; very simple yet ingenious. But the modern-day one is great too. At first I thought it was too convoluted, but after rereading I see how it’s really based around one grand deception, with the rest of the culprit’s actions being just minor parts of it. I do think that some of the clues could have been more detailed--I’m thinking here of what tips Navy off to what really happened--but on the whole, I was satisfied.
This was a really solid and fun read. We have a good, twisty mystery that dunks the reader into surreality before pulling up and showing them how everything, even the seemingly irrelevant, actually pointed towards a rational if convoluted solution. What more can you ask from a locked room mystery? Recommended.
And you know what’s even better? It’s free! (Unless you want to donate to the author.) You can download it right now! And then maybe more of his works. I know I will. DWaM's blog (and story archive) is here.
Note: DWaM also wrote the novel Gospel of V under the name H.M Faust, so I put that in the tags to make finding him easier.
Other Reviews: The Invisible Event.
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