A Door in His Head

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Sze Salik, also known as Daishin, has come from a violent background, with a terrible wound to his leg. Taken in by a California-based relative, he sets out to create a whole new life as Stephen See. He succeeds, but just as he's at his happiest, his old life comes back to trouble him.

Review
In an afterword, the author notes connections between this book and her Victorian-era Marian Holcombe thrillers. I haven't read them, but it actually explains quite a bit. Family connections are a central part of this book, with cousins constantly turning up. Unfortunately, the connections are so intricate that I quickly lost track of who was both mother and grandmother to the same person, etc., etc. Probably fans of the other series will have a better grasp on this. In this book, I found it wasn't presented clearly enough. And, because it's important but peripheral in the moment, I didn't try too hard. Only later in the book does it become apparent that the interconnections will keep turning up and becoming more important overall.

I enjoyed the book, but I found the approach to be a bit simplistic. The protagonist – Stephen/Salik/Daishin – seems fairly credulous, always latching on to the latest advice he's been given. There's some explanation for this, but I didn't find it always convincing. It's also – as may be appropriate for a series title Cockeyed Optimists – not too credible how easily things work out for him. From a traumatized boy, he quickly becomes a bulky, confident, handsome top athlete who wins the girl of his dreams without much effort. And maybe they're related; I was never quite sure.

Clough does do a generally good job of placing the characters in their timeframe, using appropriate terminology (though it seemed to me with more f-words than would be likely then). I was less sold on the protagonist himself. Not only are things too easy for him, his traumatic background is withheld for far too long. The structure of the novel relies on gradual revelation, but it annoyed me a bit that almost everyone except the reader knows the truth; we're just meant to know that something happened.

Overall, it's a good, fairly quick story, but probably best suited for those already immersed in Clough's historical settings and family trees.