Joshilyn Jackson's newest thriller is her best so far | DON NOBLE

Joshilyn Jackson now has published 11 novels, the last three of which are “domestic” thrillers, that is, "family stories,” not police procedurals or international spy stories. This one, "With My Little Eye," is the scariest of them all.

We begin in Los Angeles, where Meribel Mills, a successful actress, aged about 40, has a problem: a stalker. She works at being very attractive, sexy even, for her work, but this goes beyond the behavior of an over-zealous fan.

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She never spots him, but Meribel, a sensitive woman, has extra sharp senses. She can “feel” it if someone is staring at her: “eyes watching, shivery trails crawling across my skin.”

He also writes her terrifying, creepy letters, of which Jackson can be proud.

“We will be sweet together. I will be sweet to you when you are good. … Destiny is coming for you.’’ He wants to take her to the wilderness, alone. The letters are written in scented magic marker: “Faux orange and chalky chocolate mint and the sick-sweet of hot-pink cotton candy.”

One day she realizes he has been in her house, then, one evening, on her sheets she smells “bay rum cologne.”

Meribel immediately accepts an acting job on a sitcom “in Georgia, of all places,” for her own safety and for her daughter, Honor. This child, now 12, Meribel adopted as an infant.

Honor is autistic, and a challenging character to write, I am sure, especially since some chapters are from Honor’s point of view.

I am unfamiliar with any other fiction told, even in part, from an autistic point of view.

It did remind me, however, of William Faulkner's bold experiment in “The Sound and the Fury." Faulkner actually dares to begin that magnificent novel with a chapter told by Benjy Compson.

The title is taken from "Macbeth" and readers know it is "a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." This is ironic, of course, since it signifies, in fact, everything.

Benjy, in the parlance of 1929, is an idiot, a person with a very low IQ. He can see and hear but not understand. When he hears golfers yelling "caddy," he looks around for his beloved sister, Caddy. When his birthday candles are blown out, "The candles went away." Benjy needs a strict routine, repetition. When his keeper, Luster, takes him around the town square clockwise, Benjy howls. He must be driven counterclockwise.

And Benjy takes note of all smells. His sister sometimes smells like leaves, sometimes like trees.

Using an “unreliable” narrator is challenging for the author and for readers, who must interpret what they are told but who then have the satisfaction of having solved the puzzle of this unusual point of view.

In the sections from Honor’s perspective, readers may understand what other characters in the novel do not. Honor has trouble with human contact, especially strangers, human touch, and must avoid sugar among other things. Very bright, with nearly an eidetic memory, she cannot tell a lie, but is perfectly capable of being deceptive and lying by omission. One morning she asks her mom for an additional breakfast egg sandwich. Meribel is so pleased.

Honor's appetite is improving. In fact, Honor is taking the sandwich to a homeless girl she is helping. No need to mention that. Honor is "high-functioning," to say the least, and ranks high among internet practitioners of Dungeons and Dragons, having mastered many levels of complexity.

When stressed, Honor feels herself full of buzzing bees and her “self” rising to the top of her skull. A crisis results in “stimming.” I had to look it up: means repetitive vocalizations or movements, perhaps calming.

Readers may disagree, but I feel it can be distracting to come upon vocabulary with inadequate context that makes you decide whether to press on, not knowing the meaning, or stop and look it up.

Soon after Meribel’s move to Atlanta, the letters resume, and Marker Man, as Meribel and Honor have dubbed him, has followed her east.

Meribel, who has played in a good many scary slasher movies, knows what to do to avoid being the girl who is TSTL— too stupid to live, but it gets beautifully complicated.

Jackson creates in the reader’s mind, and in Meribel’s, doubts as to which man — a stranger, her ex-husband James, her apartment neighbor Cooper, or even her last lover in LA, Cam, might be the maniac who’s after her.

Or is there more than one? Paranoia rules. But the threat is real.

The action mounts beautifully and the plot twists are deft, unexpected, startling. This is a genuine page-turner, and can be disturbing and rough.

Nevertheless, as is so often the case, this novel is primarily for women readers. There are elaborate descriptions of every piece of clothing Meribel dons: styles, cuts, fabrics I know not of.

And the book is saturated with smells — Meribel remembers James’s smells, from college days; Cam “used a shampoo with bergamot and lime.” Every character has distinguishing odors, some really unpleasant. Honor loves the smell of her own “mank.” I had to look it up: means disgusting.

Not all the men here are monsters, but several are and, be assured, this damsel in distress will have to rescue herself.

Don Noble’s newest book is Alabama Noir, a collection of original stories by Winston Groom, Ace Atkins, Carolyn Haines, Brad Watson, and eleven other Alabama authors.

“With My Little Eye”

Author: Joshilyn Jackson

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 325

Price: $30 (Hardcover)

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Joshilyn Jackson's newest thriller is her best so far | DON NOBLE