Synopses & Reviews
Bad Chemistry poses an unsettling question: How much do we really know about the people we love or about ourselves?
Kate Theodorus used to be a cop in Chicago. Eager to escape the ugliness and violence of police work, she moved to Washington, D.C., to create a new life for herself as a social worker. There she married Joel Baker, a successful entrepreneur whose edgy nonconformism so different from the conservatism of her overprotective family of Greek cops seemed to mesh perfectly with her new conception of herself. Three years later, on a snowy November night, Joel leaves the house to pick up some groceries. He never returns. Kate embarks on a search for her husband and for the truth about the parts of his life that he has hidden from her. When the police unearth evidence connecting Joel to illegal drug trafficking and a murdered biochemist, Kate finds herself thrust back into the familiar world of clues, surveillance, and guns that she thought she had left behind. But this time, she's operating outside the law she was once sworn to enforce.
Review
"In this compelling first novel, short story writer Krist switches genres to mystery but continues his trenchant exploration of suburban life. Kate Baker, a former Chicago cop from a working-class family of cops, is enthralled with her liberal entrepreneur husband Joel and her new life in a wealthy D.C. suburb. And then Joel disappears. Next, a chemist for Joel is found murdered, the police making him a prime suspect. Clues pop up that Joel may have been involved in drug dealing or importing illegal plants or creating designer drugs. Kate's search for her husband encompasses the unravelling of Joel's past, their marriage, and the meaning and boundaries of what two people can share." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)