Romance, mystery, suspense and tragedy are all attempted components of Melissa McConnell’s debut novel, “Evidence of Love.” Set in the politically charged backdrop of Washington, D.C., this tragic love story sets out to conquer both government politics and the politics of emotions as relationships fizzle, secret affairs begin, tragedy strikes and love is found.
McConnell has an incredible knack for description, something that comes through on every page. McConnell makes it easy for the reader to see exactly what she wants you to see, from the emotion on someone’s face to the backyard of the main character’s mother’s home, but there’s still something lacking in character development. McConnell never made me truly care about any of the characters,
although at times I laughed with and felt empathy for some of them. But
in general, it was difficult to feel a true connection.
When the story begins, the protagonist, Catherine, has recently moved from lively and bustling Manhattan back to her hometown of Washington, D.C., where she quickly loses her individuality, her spunk for life and her romance with fiancé Harry. Because this is the way the character is first introduced — she doesn’t care much about herself, and subsequently neither do I — I found it difficult to ever really establish a relationship with Catherine. The same goes for the background characters, many of who feel as if they were just thrown in to give Catherine someone to play off of
but don’t ever develop into much
of anything.
Catherine works as a speech writer for the vice president of the Untied States. Although she is talented and well-respected, she finds herself distracted and unmotivated, a situation that makes readers feel as “blah” as Catherine seems. In Harry, Catherine has found the man she thinks she wants to spend the rest of her life with. He has a top-secret job as “special adviser” to the president, a job which Catherine and the readers know little about. All Catherine knows is that Harry’s hours are often late and that he has become more distant since their move. Then — pretty much out of the blue for readers, but especially for Catherine — Harry disappears, only leaving a note that he will be gone on business for a few days and he won’t be coming back to her when and if he returns.
McConnell then does something that threw me for a loop: She abruptly changes characters and point of view. With Catherine, the story is told in first person, but at the beginning of the second chapter and sporadically throughout the rest of the book, McConnell changes to third person as she describes what’s happening to Harry. Because the point of view is shifted to an outsider’s perspective, it’s even harder to relate to him. Although readers know where he’s at and what he’s doing, Harry is never developed as a person, and by the end of the book readers still don’t fully understand who he ever was.
“Evidence of Love” has the potential to mirror the wonderfully written “The Pilot’s Wife” by Anita Shreve: A love story with a mysterious twist that makes the readers and characters question if they ever really know the person they’re sharing their bed with. But McConnell fails to build any of that intrigue or explanation of her characters’ actions and motivations. Although “Evidence of Love” is considerably well-penned and full of fantastic descriptions, the plot and characters should have been better developed.

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