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Letter to the editor

The Webb she weaves

A death row inmate pulls a newspaper columnist into her story, in Joy Fielding's new novel.

By Steve Weinberg, Special to the
Published April 6, 2008

Charley's Web

By Joy Fielding

Atria, 448 pages, $24.95

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Joy Fielding is a much-published novelist who lives part of the year in Palm Beach. Charley's Web, her 20th book, is set there and in other Florida locales. - I have not read Fielding's other books, but if they are as well-plotted and smoothly written as Charley's Web, I would like to find the time to read more. - A disclosure about why I read No. 20: For 40 years, I have not only practiced journalism, but collected novels with journalists as protagonists. The "Charley" of this book's title is Charlotte Webb, a provocative 20-something columnist for a fictional Palm Beach newspaper.

Her family situation is central to the plot of the novel, though explaining precisely how would destroy some of the suspense. In brief: Her parents are divorced. Her father is a distant intellectual English professor; her mother abandoned Charlotte and her siblings while they were young, but has since re-entered Charley's life.

Charley's sisters are famous (one as a romance novelist, one as a television personality), but they refuse to forgive their mother and are upset that Charley is open to reconciliation. Charley's brother, who lives nearby, has spiraled into alcoholism.

Not so incidentally, Charley is drop-dead gorgeous but suffers from commitment problems with men. She is, though, the devoted single mother of an 8-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son.

Charley's newspaper column is intentionally provocative. She writes frequently in the first person, revealing intimate details about herself and her relatives, neighbors and newsroom colleagues. The provocative nature of the column leads to fan mail from Jill Rohmer, also a 20-something, who is writing from a Florida prison.

Rohmer lives on death row after a jury convicted her of torturing and murdering three children she knew through babysitting. Rohmer hopes Charley will agree to collaborate on a book that will reveal the true story of the murders.

Charley is uncertain whether she could or should become involved. She discusses the possibilities with Rohmer's lawyer, with her editor and, mostly, with herself before she decides to proceed.

Rohmer suggests that she worked with an accomplice, whom she calls Jack. But she will not reveal the identity of the accomplice right away. As Charley interviews Rohmer by telephone, e-mail, letters and in-person prison sessions, she descends deeper and deeper into the pit of uncertainty. Danger lurks in that pit.

On page 178, I felt pretty certain I knew the identity of the accomplice. But Fielding's plotting is so masterful I could not feel completely certain. Then, on page 388, I decided my original deduction was correct - only to learn 15 pages later than I had been mistaken.

Charley's Web qualifies as a first-rate mystery thriller. It also qualifies as a first-rate novel about journalism and journalists.

Steve Weinberg is the author of the new dual biography "Taking on the Trust: The Epic Battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller."

[Last modified April 2, 2008, 15:15:40]