#3 - Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber

Mystery, 384 pages

OK, I'll admit it; I picked up this book because the cover looked cool. So, when I opened the book to the front cover and read that the mystery was about SIDS cases and an infant murderer, I almost decided not to proceed. Thankfully, there are no graphic descriptions of infant killing in this book.

Origin is told from the perspective of Lena, a socially inept fingerprint analyst with an intuitive gift for discovering hidden motives and mysteries at crime scenes and among evidence. Cases that had previously been closed and attributed to SIDS have now been re-opened because a wealthy parent had the right connections, and Lena is suddenly central to the investigation. This thrust into the limelight coincides with (and is perhaps the cause of) a large scale unravelling of her world and lifestyle. As Lena examines evidence and crime scenes, she also begins an examination of her own origins, as she seems to be integral to both the case and the crimes. Lena (with a little help) finally does manage to solve the case, and her life will never be the same again.

I will stop there with my synopsis, because I don't want to give anything away. Although I am not generally a fan of mystery novels, I did enjoy this one. Lena really fascinated me. Throughout the book, I had a variety of opinions about Lena. First, I thought that the author just made her weird for the sake of having a weird character, and that Lena's suspicions about her past were completely true. Then, I thought that she was just on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Finally, I came to the conclusion that Lena suffers from some kind of mental illness or is perhaps autistic. This was an intriguing choice for a protagonist. I enjoyed experiencing Lena's emotional and mental growth as the story progressed, and, although I didn't love her or feel a personal connection to her, I was glad for her at the end of the story. For Lena, the story didn't have an 'and they all lived happily every after' ending. It was more of a 'I am making baby steps toward getting better' ending, which is frankly a lot more like real life.

The 'whodunit' part of this book was interesting as well. I had my suspicions about the killer, and I can't say that their identity was a real shock when it was finally revealed, but it wasn't something that I got right away either. The motive of the killer, however, was something that really took me by surprise.

All in all, it was an enjoyable read. The protagonist was interesting, the supporting characters were vivid and the end was definitely a bit unexpected. After reading this work, I definitely want to check out more by this author. I would give this one a 4 out of 5.