The Strangler Vine was long listed for the 2014 Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction and the description — historical fiction set in early 19th-century India featuring a green soldier, a wizened political operative and Thuggees — made it sound too good to pass up. Images of Indiana Jones came to mind, but Carter offers her readers so much more than that pulpy comic-booky fare. Trained as a journalist, she delivers a meticulously researched political novel that reminded me of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and […]
Not New Adult So Much as Latent Adult
I’ve read enough Penny Reid now that I can tell you what I like about her books. She’s very funny and she uses first person narration incredibly effectively. Often one’s inner life can be so different from one’s public persona and that juxtaposition, when done well, greatly adds to the characterization. That said, Elements of Chemistry also got this response from me, spoken out loud and with a great deal volume: She needs to be punched in the head. But more on that later. Kaitlyn […]
“They never see you coming, do they?”
Bob and Cousin Marv run a bar on the south side of Boston. Despite being called “Cousin Marv’s” it’s actually owned by the local Chechen gangsters. Because of this it’s used as a secure drop point for various bookmaking money in town so that the gangsters can collect it later. One night a couple of robbers stick up the bar for $5000 and the Chechens do not react well to this event. Bob inadvertently complicates the matter by giving the investigating cop, Detective Torres, a […]
Ridiculous…But Fun Ridiculousness
Cannonball! Were you a fan of the Christopher Pike books where highly sociopathic and/or psychopathic teenagers attempted to ruin the lives of others for strange reasons? I loved those books. I guarantee that they are pure crap now (in fact, one cannonballer had been doing reviews and had me remembering them all in their crappy glory) but that’s pretty much what Liars Inc. is like. It’s junk food, you know that it’s not really a good book but it was FANTASTIC to read because […]