Análisis de diario de la biblioteca
| DEBUT The first novel by poet Douaihy, coeditor of Cambridge's Elements in Crime Narratives series, features punk rocker--turned--music teacher Sister Holiday, the only chain-smoking, tattooed, queer nun of the Sisters of the Sublime Blood in New Orleans, who tends to confiscate her students' cigarettes. She's sneaking a smoke in the alley beside the convent when the school erupts in fire and the janitor's flaming body drops from a second-floor window. Sister Holiday rushes in, finds two students trapped in a classroom, and helps save them. When she overhears the fire investigator declaring the blaze an arson, Sister Holiday turns investigator to expose the firebug; though she never went to college, her father was a cop, and she's read plenty of old PI novels. Then the police rule a second death accidental, and Sister Holiday concludes that only she cares enough to find the arsonist who seems determined to shut down her small religious order. VERDICT The first book from suspense novelist Gillian Flynn's imprint at Zando. Sister Holiday's violent, sexually provocative past life and her current language and behavior might be too outrageous for some readers, but the series has already been acquired for a prestige-television adaptation.--Lesa Holstine |
Análisis semanal de editoriales
| At the start of this unsettling psychological suspense novel from Hall (Hidden Depths), Cole Simmonds is trying to rebuild his life after a nasty split from his wife, Mel Connelly. He leaves his office job in London to work as a wildlife ranger along the southern coast of England, where he immediately becomes enchanted with Leonora Baxter, an artist who lives in a neighboring cottage. While the two get to know each other, feminist activists Molly Patterson and Phoebe Canton, who are livestreaming their hike along the coast as part of a domestic violence fundraiser, vanish. Cole becomes the prime suspect when a strand of Molly's hair is found in his outhouse. Hall then shifts the story to Mel's perspective. Chronicling the downfall of her and Cole's marriage, Mel recounts her fertility struggles and alludes to unsettling truths about her former husband. Soon, the hikers' disappearance captures public attention, with newscasters and social media sleuths alike weighing in on Cole's involvement in Molly and Phoebe's fates. From there, Hall begins to tie each of her story threads together with a series of twists about the disappearances and Cole and Mel's marriage. Her plot and themes don't exactly break new ground, but Hall keeps things moving at a brisk clip, and the thought-provoking conclusion will prompt readers to ask difficult questions about bad male behavior. Fans of Megan Abbott will want to check this out. Agent: Lizzy Kremer, David Higham Assoc. (Jan.) |
