The Pain of Others by Blake Crouch-A critique

"The Pain of Others" is a novella of less than a hundred pages by Blake Crouch. Published in 2011, it is the first book of the series on Letty Dobesh.

Book Overview (according to Good Reads)

Letty Dobesh, a gorgeous, degenerate thief, is fresh out of the clink and back to her old tricks - in this case, burglarizing suites at a luxury hotel in Asheville, North Carolina.

But when she's surprised by returning guests on her last room of the day, she's forced to hide in the closet to avoid getting caught, and inadvertently overhears a hitman being contracted to murder the wife of a wealthy lawyer.

Letty is hardly a heroine, but this puts even her threadbare morality to the test.

Only in hindsight will she see her choice to intervene for what it is…a dramatic fork in the trajectory of her life, propelling her toward a terrifying shocker of an ending that neither she (or you) ever saw coming.

Critique

Apart from the story, included are many bonuses and most notably, an interview with Blake Crouch. I enjoyed this, it was brief but I enjoyed it. For a good portion of it, I felt bad for Arnold and suspicious of Daphne which I was glad to see was a valid feeling. For some reason, I wondered what Daphne may have done for Chase to want to murder her. Yes, it could be unwarranted but I felt it wasn't. Arnold is a hustler like Letty, a different hustle-true as he's a contract killer while she's a thief but a hustler still. However, the similarity for wealth stops there as she strives to stop one of his missions. I'm glad Letty was able to help and to help the first help by going back to the house. Chase did warn her to stay away since Daphne is manipulative and attracted to the pain of others, but at least she ended Daphne and her proximity to his son, Skyler. It was so sad to know that he struck a deal with Daphne allowing her to torment and utilize Arnold as much as she wanted before disappearing. I understand to save Skyler and himself I guess but that's vile. 

I wonder why Daphne decided to play along with Letty's determined behaviour to save her especially when she's capable of horrid things which she could have used to defend herself. Knowing this, I was surprised she had visible fear about her possible murder but some murderers are not that cold I guess. Like with the extent of what she did to Arnold, I am surprised she feared for her life. She had to have been psychopathic beforehand to come up with what she did. That behaviour does not plant and blossom in five days and she was willing to do it to Letty too. She had to audacity to fear for her life as if she knew the value of life, crazy. For some reason, I was surprised that Arnold wanted to end it all. He was probably tired of his way of life along with all the agony from Daphne as she added parts of him to her painting.

I am bothered by the car Letty left with though. Like, if they look up the details of it wouldn't that cause a problem for her? If she left on time with what she had already stolen, she wouldn't have had to hide to hear their plan and act on her desire to atone for her sins by helping. She wouldn't have had to help someone she didn't realize was a greater evil than she and Arnold. The book proves it's not good to not mind your business unless you can somehow fix things.

Favourite character: Letty

Favourite scene: Letty trying to placate Daphne.

Most memorable thing: Daphne talking about the painting.

Overall: Good read. I'm happy for Skyler.

"Good Behavior" is a 2013 book by Blake Crouch with more about Letty Dobesh. According to Good Reads, "Good Behavior comprises three interlinked novellas (The Pain of Others, Sunset Key, and Grab), which together form a novel-length portrait of Blake Crouch's all-time favorite character creation, Letty Dobesh. This edition is the complete Letty Dobesh collection."

Good Behavior carried on to be a 2016 television series starring Michelle Dockery with 2 seasons based on the book. Now, Blake Crouch has another of his books taken to TV, Apple TV precisely. His 2016 book, Dark Matter is the basis for the 2024 show on Apple TV+ starring Joel Edgerton.