the basement *spoilers included - A Review

I'll just start off by saying that I really enjoyed Stephen Leather's novella, "the basement." It is a fast-paced tale with an interesting twist at the end that was very effective. The story's protagonist, a deluded, aspiring screenwriter named Marvin Waller, finds himself as the main suspect in the investigation into a serial killer targeting secretaries in New York.

I do have a few caveats however. Despite being classified as a thriller, the parts narrated by the Waller character were difficult to get through at times. It was extremely boring as he droned on about the story lines to his inane spec scripts, (which hit a little too close to home as it reminded me of the looks friends have given me when I do the same:) or his complaints about the gatekeepers whom he was convinced were trying to prevent his work from being seen by the producers he sought to solicit. The sections narrated by the serial killer were better, though even then there were times when it didn't seem credible. It brings up a lot of issues about gender portrayal that are difficult to sort through. For instance, the character of the killer as written is conducted from a man's perspective it seems to me. The way in which the serial killer discusses desire feels wrong somehow. I'm not simply talking about gender stereotypes here, Women simply don't act that way. I'm not saying that they're incapable of serial murder, just not in the same way. What Mr. Leather is describing is a male serial killer here, in terms of motive, physical attraction, lust, violence and the need to dominate psychologically and then wrapping that description into a woman at the end. I just didn't buy it.

Moreover, the way in which the investigation was conducted is another gripe that I have with the novella. What I mean by that is that there was no investigation. Turner and Marcinko had one suspect that they visited repeatedly, without utilizing any of the methods that law enforcement traditionally uses to apply pressure to that suspect, from leaking his name to the press, to pulling their financials to pulling cell phone records to break down alibis. I'm not asking him to bore us to death with police procedure but that omission was a little too convenient for me, too neat. The one element that I was impressed by was the way that there was always something more to Leather's characters than the reader initially was led to suspect. It was done well in both the case of Waller and the serial killer.

Anyway, if I haven't spoiled things too much for those of you out there who refused to heed my warnings and read on anyway, I encourage you to spend the 99 cents/71p and read the basement. Despite the reservations I expressed earlier, it's more than worth your dollar and your time.