Read: March 2018
Expected Publishing Date: June 5th 2018
Rating: 4/5 stars
Still Lives by Maria Hummel is a mystery, suspense novel in which we follow Maggie Richter, a 28 year old copy editor for the Rocque Museum in 2003 L.A. When her museum holds a gala for an exhibit of murdered women as still life paintings titled Still Lives, and the creator, Kim Lord, does not appear, Maggie finds herself turning to her journalistic background to figure out what is going on. While initially she becomes invested in Kim’s disappearance because of a mutual connection, Maggie can’t help but try to make up for a similar awful event from her past that she wasn’t able to solve. The juxtaposition between Maggie’s past and the occurrences surrounding Kim Lord is done extremely well, and makes for a gripping read where you can’t help but get sucked into Maggie’s search for Kim and her coming to terms with her past. Furthermore, the setting of the Rocque Museum is quite interesting, providing a backdrop that also keeps you engaged and wanting to know more.
Initially, I picked up this novel because it sounded vaguely like Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series, and while the two are nothing alike, only sharing a suspenseful tale concerned with art, I did truly enjoy Still Lives. My deep enjoyment of this novel is surprising to me because usually I’m not a fan of the thriller genre either due to its tendency for predictable plotlines or its popular inclusion of unrealistically crazy and extremely flawed characters, but Still Lives is different. I personally did not see or guess at the conclusion of Kim Lord’s disappearance, and not because it was written badly or because I wasn’t invested but because Maria Hummel takes you on a logical whirlwind of a ride. Additionally, Maggie, while still making some cringe-worthy decisions, acted in a calmer and more believable way than the female protagonists of other thrillers I have read. Furthermore, I thoroughly enjoyed the progression of the plot: at first it started out slow, but not in an annoyingly dragged out way, to provide an interest for the setting and the characters introduced, then it gradually quickened in pace, expressing the necessary urgency of a thriller without going so fast as to gloss over details or prevent character/plot development. Overall, while I might group this in the same sub-genre of thrillers as The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and You by Caroline Kepnes, Maria Hummel’s Still Lives leaves those hyped books behind, as I enjoyed it quite a lot more than the aforementioned titles.