Unbecoming

November 10, 2014
Scherm’s debut novel traces the transformation of a smalltown American girl into a professional international jewel thief. The novel opens in Paris, where 23-year-old Grace from Garland, Tenn., posing as Julie from California, earns a meager living restoring antiques and repairing jewelry. Grace’s boss has her working on what are probably stolen items, and Grace is not above stealing a few gems herself, but her biggest worry is that her husband, Riley, and her onetime lover, Alls, both recently released from a Tennessee prison, will track her down. She hasn’t been in touch with either since their arrest for a robbery Grace initiated before escaping to Europe in possession of a stolen painting. Through flashbacks, Scherm shows Grace, Riley, and Alls growing up together: Riley, the privileged son of a doctor and his nurturing wife; Grace, welcomed like a daughter by Riley’s parents; Alls, raised without wealth or even a mother to become more dangerous than Riley. Scherm mixes a character study with a caper novel full of double-crosses, lies, and betrayals, as when Grace is robbed immediately after selling the stolen painting. She is at her best when describing precious objects: a Dutch master’s still life, a James Mont cigar box with hidden compartment, an ornate centerpiece with fanciful fruit and figurines, and silver spoons ignored by their owners but appreciated by the professional hired to evaluate them. Agent: Susan Golomb, Susan Golomb Literary Agency.

November 15, 2014
The epilogue to Scherm's debut novel would have made a terrific short story, or a film starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. The novel that precedes it is infinitely less interesting, primarily because of problems with pacing. The story of Grace, a nice Southern girl who ends up planning an art theft from the local heritage house with the help of her too-loyal boyfriend, Riley, and his friends, is told in flashback sections that take too long to get to the point. The point is, of course, the heist, and though Scherm's attention to detail is impressive-outlining just where Grace got the skills (apprenticing for an appraiser in New York City) and the cunning to pull off such a bold maneuver-the result is a novel that feels lopsided. All the buildup is meant to make us care more about Grace's fate and the relationships among the characters, but it bogs the story down. When attempting to write in the vein of Hitchcock and Highsmith, authors should remember these masters' precise economy of style. This novel is unsuccessful precisely because it tries to make the mundane part of the action, though it just acts as a counterweight to what should be the excitement of crime. Family lives, childhoods, petty failures and their associated feelings are supposed to give the novel heft, but they really just distract from the elements that are the most exciting, to both Scherm (her writing is best when Grace is at her most wicked) and the reader. More thrills and less ponderous thinking about thrills would have made this an impressive first novel. Instead, it's a decidedly mixed bag, taking too long to gather the momentum it needs to succeed as crime fiction and not quite making the cut as satisfying literary fiction, either.

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November 15, 2014

Grace has spent three years running from her former life in Garland, TN. She is now hiding in Paris under an assumed name. As Julie from California, she spends her days as a quiet antiques restorer, keeping her head down and an eye on the news from Garland. Back home, two men have been released from prison--her husband and his friend, the man she loves. Both went to jail for an antiques theft she planned; now she is sure they are hunting her. Grace has cut ties from everyone in her former life and fled halfway around the world, but will it be enough to hide her from the men who were incarcerated for her? VERDICT Scherm's debut has a plot that twists and turns, but it is the enigma of who Grace really is that will keep readers hooked until the very end. A bleak tone, deeply flawed protagonist, and dysfunctional relationships will draw well-deserved comparisons to Gillian Flynn. [See Prepub Alert, 7/21/14.]--Portia Kapraun, Monticello-Union Twp. P.L., IN

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