Reading Joan Barfoot’s latest mystery novel, Critical Injuries, one can’t help but recall Shakespeare’s famous words: “All the world’s a stage/ And all the men and women merely players/ They have their exits and their entrances/ And one man in his time plays many parts.” However, in Critical Injuries, we see Barfoot’s characters before the entrance and after the exit, backstage, struggling to decide which costume to put on next.
At its heart, this novel explores the nature of change, of constant metamorphosis and the myriad possibilities that lie within each moment. Young adult Roddy and middle-aged Isla’s lives become inextricably linked during a botched robbery. For a time, both are suspended from the metamorphic process of life, left to contemplate the relationship between thought and action, word and action, and the relationship from one moment to the next.
With Critical Injuries, Barfoot also explores the relationship between fact, fiction and fiction-making. Characters often find themselves looking to television or film for answers or commentary on their situation, relating themselves to plots and characters they’ve experienced before. Of course, this eventually leads to their realization of the disparity between real life and fiction. The effect is like having Barfoot by your side, nudging you with her elbow and pointing at her own processes, subtly, and with astute cleverness.
Barfoot’s characters and their emotions are palpable. They are as physically nondescript as the town in which they live, but contain an emotional geography that is rich, lush and complicated. Using Shakespeare as an example is not without reason. Characters transcend spatial, temporal, and physical details, leaving nothing but intense raw emotion.
Perhaps the most brilliant achievement in this novel is its masterful pacing. Characters’ emotional lives, whole histories, are subtly fed little by little.
Stories within the larger story are told, without the reader ever feeling like they’re being assaulted with obvious exposition. With the suspense and intrigue of the best mystery novels, Barfoot leads us along an emotional expedition towards a conclusion Aristotle would have been proud of: one that is both inevitable yet wholly surprising.
Rating: VVVVV
