Good Behavior by Blake Crouch

It's not that I've been reading bad books. The books I have been reading have been awesome, but Blake Crouch's Good Behavior is the first book I've read in a while that I really didn't want to put down. Seriously I read this book anytime I had a spare moment. I read standing on street corners while waiting for the walk signal to change in my favor, at an author signing while waiting to take a picture with the author, on the bus - you get the idea. Good Behavior had me from page one. But let me rewind a bit...

The cable channel TNT has been knocking it out of the park lately with all kinds of interesting new programming. One of their new shows is, or was, Good Behavior. It began airing in November 2016. I know it is now February 2017 but understand that in addition to the pile of books sitting in the corner of my apartment waiting to be read, there is also a slew of TV shows and movies saved on my DVR waiting to be watched. I am always behind. Anyway, the television series was fantastic. If a fantastic TV series is based on a book, of course I'm going to get the book. Hence, how I came to be reading at street corners while walking home from the library.

The TV show stars Michelle Dockery as Letty and let me tell you Letty is no Lady Mary (that's a Downton Abbey reference for those who didn't know). Letty is a thief, drug addict, ex-con who listens to self-help tapes as she tries to get her life back on track. That's not easy given that stealing is the only thing that gives her the high crystal meth did. Actually I would go further and say it isn't just the stealing she gets off on, it is being a different person. Letty's true talent is how she can transform into someone else before your eyes. Instead of a recovering drug addict recently out of jail, she's a ghost writer for famous authors or a high school teacher. All it takes is a wig and an accent change and she is a completely new person. Too bad she can't keep it up and change for real.

In the first episode Letty is stealing from hotel guests. One guest comes back early forcing her to hide in the closet. While hiding she overhears a conversation between a husband and the man he has hired to kill his wife. Letty may be a criminal but she still has a conscience. She can't simply let a woman be murdered. So she intervenes. From here the show and the book go in different directions and both are captivating. The show focuses on Letty's struggles and various relationships in her life (one in particular). The book, which contains the novellas The Pain of Others, Sunset Key, and Grab, is all about Letty. In each story she continually gets into and out of trouble, always of her own making. Letty is a fantastic and memorable character. She is smart and quick on her feet. She is a survivor even though she keeps doing things that pose very real threats to her survival. It was hard not to like her.

I'm not sure when the three novellas were originally published. The edition I read was clearly repackaged and republished to coincide with the show. In addition to the novellas, it includes short essays from the author on the evolution of the stories from print to the screen. The essays were great, adding insight into how and why the story changed. I would definitely recommend this (and the show too).