IT WILL LAST LONGER

In Sanders Brooks’ thriller, a mysterious murder sparks the revival of the death portraiture industry in LA.

Poor Karen Elmes is already dead when readers meet Viv Klein, a down-on-her-luck photographer who is skewered on social media for snapping the deceased woman’s photograph after stumbling upon her body in a forlorn back alley. Abby Katz is an intrepid reporter dispatched by the LA Timesto profile the hard-pressed young photographer. Just what makes her tick? And why did she do what she did? Though conflicted about her actions in the back alley, Viv nevertheless decides that a weird job offer to photograph a wealthy man’s recently deceased mother is just too lucrative to pass up. After all, she’s told, death masks go back to King Tut’s time and even became a proto-social media phenomenon in the 19th century when good folks felt that using the novel invention of photography was a great way to preserve their dearly departed loved ones at the moment of death. (“The Victorians got all creepy about it when photography became more affordable, and they would take death portraits of their children staged with their families. Disturbing, I know.”) The creep factor is, indeed, off the charts (the proceedings are chilling long before additional bodies start hitting the floor), but Sanders Brooks’ steady and clear-eyed approach to the ghastly photo shoots makes them seem entirely plausible. The author keeps her energetic narrative tightly focused on the lead characters, along with a few other supporting players, in a continuously revolving POV storytelling arc that manages to evoke both intimacy and urgency throughout. As the dark but familiar world Viv and Abby inhabit grows increasingly perilous, the danger feels uncomfortably palpable. Brooks explores heavy questions about the morality of social media with a light, mordant touch. Narrative shifts to a detached Discord chat between true-crime enthusiasts trying to puzzle out what’s going on and news accounts about the diabolical deeds allow readers to zoom out and get their bearings before being plunged back down the claustrophobic LA streets where Viv plies her stock in trade.

A uniquely dark and chilling ride.