How far would you go to hide the truth of your past? Would you risk your job, your marriage, perhaps even your life? This is the quandary Anton Waker faces in The Singer’s Gun, Emily St. John Mandel’s second literary thriller. He has always longed for a normal life, but Anton is not like most people; his parents make their living dealing in stolen antiques, and he and his cousin Aria started an underground business that is far worse. Anton vows to leave his life of crime behind him, but just weeks before his wedding, Aria tells him she needs his help closing a deal. If Anton refuses this one last task, she’ll be forced to tell his fiancée who he really is. So it is that Anton finds himself returning to his old life in order to keep his new one, all the while praying he doesn’t lose everything as a result.

The Singer’s Gun is a nail-biting thriller overflowing with high-stakes issues such as blackmail, theft, fraud and human trafficking. In Mandel’s hands, these acts are transmuted into a morally nebulous gray zone, in which the complexities of life fail to be easily captured in terms of black and white, right and wrong. At times the characters’ motivations are inscrutable, and not all plot threads are neatly bound at the novel’s conclusion, but this is a turbulent and diverting read that manages to both entertain and prompt valuable contemplation of its stickier issues.

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Read an interview with Emily St. John Mandel

Anton Waker simply wanted to have an office job, a home, and a family. He never wanted to participate in his family's shady business dealings. His parents traffic in stolen goods, and he's been helping cousin Aria sell forged documents to illegal immigrants. Now he has a comfortable management job, but then Aria blackmailed him into doing one last job for her, and all prospects for a normal life seemed lost. In this intricate novel, her second after Last Night in Montreal, Mandel underscores the notion that everything in life comes with a price tag, and sometimes that cost is remarkably high. Although some situations seem contrived, overall the construction of the novel is unique and compelling. The story leaps from New York to Canada to Italy, unfolding slowly, allowing the reader only limited knowledge about the characters and their motivations until the ending. VERDICT An intriguing and suspenseful read that will appeal to those who like mysteries.—Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence

Mandel (Last Night in Montreal) attempts a globe-spanning crime novel, but the clunky, lukewarm result will please neither thriller aficionados nor more literary-minded readers. Anton Waker, a Manhattan water systems consultant, finds that his world is slowly imploding as his shadowy past as a document forger comes back to haunt him. Compounding his troubles is his alluring and Machiavellian cousin, Aria Waker, who is conspiring to reel him back in for one last big score. All the while, hard-nosed State Department G-woman Alexandra Broden is closing in on the forgery ring. Along the way—the narrative travels from New York to Canada to Italy—Anton must also come to grips with his crumbling marriage and an office romance. While Mandel's prose is brisk, the narrative reads like a slightly dressed-up B-movie screenplay—flat, stocked with one-dimensional characters, and relying on awkward flashbacks to explain away character motivations. But the biggest problem is the narrative's blandness: the sex isn't sexy and the violence isn't especially violent. (May)