A Long Time Ago… Oh, You Know the Rest

Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re a fan of the Veronica Mars tv show (and most likely the movie as well), so I’m not going to reintroduce all the characters or delve into any history here.  This novel picks up right after the events of the movie, with Veronica leaving her life in NY behind to take her rightful place behind the desk at Mars Investigations while Keith recovers from his injuries.  Just as she’s pondering how she’ll pay her new assistant, Mac, a major case crosses her desk, courtesy of Neptune’s Chamber of Commerce – a college student in town for spring break has gone missing, and the Chamber is hoping to preserve Neptune’s image as the premier spring break destination for reckless coeds by hiring Veronica to find her.  Clearly, not much has changed in Neptune since Veronica left – money still makes the world go ’round.  Then, a second girl goes missing.  Soon, Veronica finds herself wrapped up in a case involving everything from drug cartels to hostages – and the revelation that someone from her past is involved as well.

I’m trying to stay fairly vague here with my description.  I don’t want to spoil the surprise of the returning character.  I devoured this book in only a few days.  It’s such an easy read, and sucks you in just like a typical episode.  It was a little weird that the book wasn’t told from Veronica’s point of view, but I think it actually works really well – by stepping outside of her POV, we can get a better sense of how she’s reacting to things, like we’re watching her just as we did on the show.  My biggest complaint?  Not enough Logan!  However, the buzz about the next book (this one is the first in a planned series) is that that will be remedied.

If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll enjoy this book.  If you’ve never seen the show, I’d recommend that you go watch the show, then the movie, then read the book.  You won’t be disappointed.