With The Girl in Cell A—his first standalone crime novel and his first book set in the United States—Vaseem Khan leaves a mark on psychological suspense that even veterans of the subgenre can only dream of. By carefully controlling the narrative, and in particular, the points of view used, Khan lures the reader in, only to rip the rug out from under them not just once, but several different times throughout the epic novel.
The Girl in Cell A clocks in at 592 pages, so readers immediately know they are about to settle into this narrative for an extended period. It’s a hefty tome that never feels padded. There is some repetition that might feel unnecessary, but each reader being different, sometimes it’s better to err on the side of repeating something, rather than risking losing the reader’s attention. When a book starts with a family tree—a significantly sized one at that—it’s likely that characters will be abundant. That is certainly true with The Girl in Cell A.
Despite the huge cast of characters, the narrative of The Girl in Cell A unspools via only two voices—Orianna Negi (the titular “girl”) and her court-appointed therapist, Annie Ledet. The bulk of the 160 chapters belong to Orianna, with Annie’s perspective entering at key moments that reflect upon what she has revealed to the reader. On the surface the storyline is simple—Convicted at seventeen of murdering a prominent member of the Wyclerc dynasty, Orianna has always claimed that she didn’t do it. However, the fact that she suffers from dissociative amnesia and can’t remember anything from that evening, has many (including the jury, and if she’s honest, maybe even herself) questioning her adamancy. That same evening when Gideon Wyclerc was killed, his daughter Grace vanished. Are the two events connected?
Eighteen years after her conviction, Orianna returns to Eden Falls—the scene of the crime—and decides that she will discover the truth once and for all. At this point, the plot unfurls as one would expect from a police procedural. Orianna discovers a clue, interviews someone, and that sends her down a new path—rinse and repeat. All the while, the townsfolk are aghast that she has the nerve to return to their quiet oasis.
Orianna’s mother—an Indian woman—came to Eden Falls to work as a servant for the Wyclerc family, but this town and the Wyclerc Estate is where Orianna was born, the place she thinks (thought) of as home. If she can clear her name, maybe she can recapture some of her childhood and the friends she was forced to leave behind. Growing up in the Wyclerc household, Orianna and Grace were bonded and Orianna wants to know what happened to her friend—even if (most of) the rest of that family is intent on blaming her for the disappearance.
As with any small town, Eden Falls has more than its share of secrets and scandals. We’re talking V. C. Andrews level of craziness here, but amazingly it all makes sense. Vaseem Khan manipulates the reader—in the best sense of that word—exposing what needs to be known only at the moment when it will have the most massive impact on the plot. The final section of The Girl in Cell A has one seismic reveal after another until the reader has no footing on solid ground—at which point, one final twist wraps everything up with a nearly perfect bow. While it’s very different from his other series work, The Girl in Cell A marks the debut of a new voice on the psychological suspense scene and readers will certainly hope that Vaseem Khan writes another standalone in the near future.
BUY LINKS: The Girl in Cell A by Vaseem Khan
