Look Closer

Look Closer is a crime thriller written by American author David Ellis and published in 2022. Ellis is a Chicago attorney, and this book draws heavily on his legal expertise and his familiarity with the city. He has written numerous thrillers and has coauthored a series with James Patterson. Set in Chicago and surrounding areas, Look Closer follows Simon Dobias and Vicky Lanier, a married couple. After a wealthy socialite is murdered, the book slowly unravels Simon and Vicky’s relationship and uncovers the secrets of their past. The book draws on and plays with many conventions of the thriller and mystery genres, featuring unreliable narrators, plot twists, and elaborate schemes. The book’s themes include The Deceptive Nature of Appearances, The Dispensation of Justice, and The Traumatic Effects of Suicide on Survivors.

This study guide refers to the e-book version of the Putnam Edition.

Content Warning: This guide briefly mentions racism, sexual assault, addiction, abuse, suicide, and violence.

Plot Summary

Look Closer uses a complicated chronological and narrative format that provides many of the novel’s twists and surprises. It follows two time frames: one leading up to Lauren Betancourt’s murder on Halloween, and the other following the aftermath of the murder. By the end of the novel, the two timelines converge. The novel also follows several first-person, unreliable narrators: Simon Dobias, Vicky Lanier, Jane Burke, and Christian Newsome. These chapters alternate with entries from Simon’s diary, beginning the summer before Halloween and leading up to the murder.

Look Closer begins with Simon standing inside the foyer of Lauren Betancourt’s home in Grace Village, a wealthy suburb of Chicago. Lauren is dead, hanging from the balcony railing while dressed in her Halloween costume. Simon leaves the crime scene and composes an apparent suicide note via text message.

The next chapter, set months before Halloween, introduces Simon more thoroughly. He is a law professor who loves his job. One day, he spots Lauren walking by him on the street. He recognizes her immediately, though he does not reveal how he knows her.

Subsequent entries from his diary reveal that Lauren was a paralegal at Simon’s father’s law firm and that Simon was infatuated with her. He writes about his failing marriage to Vicky Lanier, whom he loves but is no longer in love with, and his growing obsession with Lauren. Simon orchestrates a meeting with Lauren at their country club and, according to the diary, the two soon begin a passionate affair.

Meanwhile, Vicky works at a domestic violence shelter. She is devoted to her work and her two nieces, the daughters of her deceased sister, Monica. Monica struggled with substance misuse and died by suicide several years before the novel’s beginning. Vicky blames herself for her sister’s death.

Though Vicky and Simon are cordial, she repeatedly thinks about leaving him in November. She researches financial advisors and finds one named Christian Newsome. She tells Christian that Simon will soon come into a $20 million trust. His father, Theodore “Ted” Dobias, set it up so that she could not access any of the money, nor Simon spend it on her, until they reach 10 years of marriage. Their 10th anniversary is November 3 and Vicky wants to know if she can spend the money without Simon’s knowledge. Christian agrees to help her and the two begin an affair.

Christian is actually a scammer named Nick Caracci, who preys on wealthy women and steals their fortunes before abandoning them. He sees Vicky as his latest mark and is pleased that she has fallen for him so easily. His best friend, Gavin, assists him in the schemes by faking his online profiles and financial statements.

In the post-Halloween timeline, police sergeant Jane Burke investigates Lauren’s murder. Jane theorizes that Lauren was having an affair based on the burner phone with incriminating texts found in her house. However, she is not sure that the partner killed her. She thinks that the partner’s wife might have set the entire murder up and that the phone was meant to be found.

Simon falls deeper into his relationship with Lauren, though he writes in his diary about battling the guilt over cheating. One of the reasons he is so guilt-ridden is that his father was unfaithful to Simon’s mother, Glory. She was a brilliant attorney and Simon’s role model, but she had a stroke that caused her to become disabled and unable to care for herself. Ted cheated on Glory and his affair partner stole the family’s money. Facing a lifetime in a nursing home and struggling with the loss of her husband and career, Glory overdosed on pills. Simon blames Ted for his mother’s death and doesn’t want to follow in his footsteps.

Lauren tells Simon that she understands his reluctance and suggests that they get married. He is elated but worries that Vicky will feel betrayed. He wants to wait until after November 3 to file for divorce so that Vicky will be entitled to some of the trust. Lauren disagrees, and finally persuades him to divorce Vicky by telling him that she is pregnant.

Vicky finds Simon’s diary and shows it to Christian, panicking. Christian recognizes Lauren as another scammer and consults Gavin for help. They hatch a plan to murder Lauren and pin the murder on Simon. Vicky feigns reluctance but agrees, telling Christian that she knows just how to do it. Internally, Vicky is rejoicing because she chose Christian for this purpose. She knows he is a scammer and has been faking her affection for him to lead him to this moment.

The night of Halloween, Simon travels to Lauren’s house and watches Christian leave the scene, revealing that he knew about Vicky’s affair and the murder plot. He silently thanks Christian for his help, then travels to Christian’s apartment and sends the text mentioned in the first chapter.

After Halloween, at the police station, Jane argues that Simon is guilty of the crimes. Jane believes Simon murdered his father, Ted, and got away with it. Though he was under suspicion, he was never charged. She explains that Simon had the motive to orchestrate Lauren’s murder because Lauren was the woman his father, Ted, had an affair with. Lauren stole all the Dobias family money, causing Glory to take her own life to avoid being put in a nursing home—events previously explained in Simon’s diary entries.

Flashbacks reveal that Vicky waited until Christian returned to his apartment after Lauren’s murder, then drugged him and shot him, faking his suicide. Christian was the man who enabled her sister Monica’s addiction and stole money from her, causing her death. She and Simon have been plotting together to kill Christian and Lauren to take revenge for the deaths of their family members. However, when Vicky leaves Christian’s house, she is caught by Gavin. He did a background check and discovered that Vicky Lanier was an alias. He threatens to kill her unless she gives him her share of Simon’s trust.

Vicky tells Simon about the threat from Gavin. Gavin comes to Simon’s house pretending to be an FBI agent. Simon tells him that he is not married and has not spoken to Lauren in years. It is revealed that the diary was all faked in an elaborate ruse to get Christian to kill Lauren. Simon and Vicky have been secretly living and working together but are not married. Gavin is shocked that he and Christian were conned but leaves out of fear that he will be implicated in Christian’s crimes.

A game of cat and mouse begins between Jane and Simon. She and her partner, Andy, come to Simon’s house and interview him. They are unable to get any confession. Simon and Vicky are forced to wait anxiously for several days to see if they will be caught. The chief of police is under pressure from the community to solve the crime. He tells Jane there is no proof Simon did it, and it is more logical that Christian and Lauren were having an affair and he killed her and then himself.

Jane tells Simon that she knows he did it but cannot prove it. Her last hope was the fingerprints on the champagne bottle left at Ted’s murder scene, but those prints turned out to be Lauren’s. Jane is the only one who believes that Simon held on to the bottle for years to frame Lauren. Simon tells her that she is an excellent police officer, and she leaves, dejected.

Simon and Vicky say goodbye in a remote park. Vicky has returned to live with her brother-in-law and nieces. They share a goodbye kiss and are saddened that they will not see each other again, but relieved that they can start anew.