Fierce Protection

“People liked to make all kinds of proclamations about what they would never do. But people did all sorts of things, and never was a very long time, and in his experience, people who said things like that lacked imagination. All it meant was that they hadn’t yet found themselves in a situation where they might.” Nate Marcus, a central character in Tova Mirvis’ We Would Never, has this thought in the moment just before he makes a reckless decision with a woman he knows he shouldn’t be seeing — an indiscretion but certainly no crime.

The crime comes later, when someone murders Jonah, the estranged husband of Nate’s sister Hailey, in the midst of their contentious divorce negotiations. But who is responsible? And why? Those are the questions Mirvis, who grew up in Memphis, asks in her fourth novel, this one based on a real crime. The architecture of the story moves between the present (a few months after Jonah is killed) and the months leading up to these dire events, and readers will appreciate the way Mirvis layers in each element, withholding the full story until the very last pages.

Divorce can often be messy, but it doesn’t often end in murder, and Hailey insists she had nothing to do with it. When they were married, Jonah was controlling and deeply resistant to the close relationship Hailey had with her family, especially her mother Sherry. During their separation, he gaslights her over his promise that they wouldn’t have to stay in Binghamton, New York, if she hated it. When Hailey introduces her desire to move, with their daughter Maya, back home to Florida, Jonah digs in his heels, and the already bitter divorce takes an ugly turn.

Hailey wonders, “Was this what it meant to get divorced – everything she knew to be true now called into question, no longer one set of facts to which they both agreed?” But they had never agreed about her family. Jonah has long found Sherry overbearing and regularly accuses Hailey of being manipulated by her controlling mother. But Sherry just loves her children, would do anything for them, and Hailey wants to escape from frigid Binghamton and take advantage of the support her family offers.

Things are further complicated by the news that Hailey’s dad Solomon has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and the disease is progressing rapidly. With Hailey battling her ex and their estranged brother Adam out of the picture, everything falls on Nate’s shoulders. Once the rebellious scamp who always went too far, Nate is now the one Sherry relies on. As tensions rise between Hailey and Jonah, and as Sherry sees her hopes of Hailey’s return slipping away, the whole family finds itself much too invested in the divorce proceedings, and the drama escalates.

In fact, though the book purports to be about a murder, it is really about this tight-knit family and the drama that has always encircled them. Readers will want to find out just what happened, but they have to wait as Mirvis slows the pace to deepen the narrative around the family and the ways they have equally pushed apart and pulled together. The fights between the brothers, the distance Solomon kept, the way Sherry poured so much into her children that she didn’t know who she was without them — these are ordinary family troubles, but in the Marcus family, they feel like more.

Despite being based on true events, the story strains believability in spots, and the structure, while mostly effective, contributes to some of the disconnect. For instance, readers aren’t told what happened to isolate Adam from the rest of the family until the second half of the book, and the revelation doesn’t deliver the impact the lengthy build-up seems to demand. But what does feel true is the fierce protection of a close family, a willingness to do whatever it takes to make sure loved ones are safe and cared for. The Marcus family will make readers wonder about all the things they would never do and what might cause them to change their minds.

Tagged: Book Reviews, Fiction