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weepingwillow88's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
5teverin0's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book ticks the boxes for fans of mystery, crime, thrillers, and alternative history - all at the same time. It also is an examination of race and identity that is capable of provoking thoughtful reflection, without getting in the way of a truly good story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
free_lance's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
karobiner's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
stephe's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Let’s hear it for hardboiled noir alt-history subgenre. It’s good, see? And if you know what’s good for ya, you’ll read it, see? So light that cigarette, wrap your trench coat collar up tight around your throat, venture out into a night only a lonely insomniac could love. Bleared eyes, scrambled eggs, coffee in shots and gulps, all that jazz.
aumann's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
thlwright's review against another edition
4.0
A literary writer venturing into crime fiction for the first time. An alternative history featuring a heavy dose of First American vs African vs Caucasian ethnic struggle written by a white Englishman. A novel over 500 pages. All these are true, and all are reasons to think that Cahokia Jazz might fall flat on its face.
There’s also a lot to get to grips with upfront: two detectives, Native American Barrow and his sharp and wily senior partner Drummond. There’s a gruesome symbolic murder that requires investigation, and there’s the city of Cahokia in an alternative twenties North America, one in which money, religion and politics are all negotiated between the three races.
Spufford’s alternative history - based on the idea that the smallpox which wiped out 95% of the original inhabitants of North America arrived in a less venomous version, leading to a continuing mass population of Native Americans - is dense at first. Though he can’t avoid the narrative dumps completely, on the whole he shapes his narrative so that the reader finds out how and why Cahokia came to be the way it is, as the detectives search for the conspiracy that lies behind the murder of a civil servant.
It’s a mash-up of alternative history and noir thriller that takes time to emerge from the set-up, but once it does Spufford proves that he can not only world-build, he can deliver page-turning action sequences: a violent mass Klansmen rally and a mob shoot-out are both thrilling extended set pieces that dominate the second half of the novel.
Cahokia is a fully-realised city, from its trolley buses to its utility companies (these play a big role). Barrow is our impetuous but always moral guide in a week of investigation that takes him from hereditary civic leaders to speakeasies, slaughterhouses and slums. Though the Fatherland comparisons are apt, to me in its sense of different cities occupying the same urban space it recalls The City and the City, China Mieville’s masterpiece of overlapping realities.
At times Spufford’s skill at keeping his various plates spinning is almost too much: there is a sense of a slight overpowering of the story by symbolism at the end. Barrow has to literally choose between getting on that midnight train to Georgia (not actually Georgia), or following up that ‘just one more thing’ about the case. But these are minor gripes. Having given himself a hugely demanding task, this novel brings it off almost entirely successfully.
Review copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
There’s also a lot to get to grips with upfront: two detectives, Native American Barrow and his sharp and wily senior partner Drummond. There’s a gruesome symbolic murder that requires investigation, and there’s the city of Cahokia in an alternative twenties North America, one in which money, religion and politics are all negotiated between the three races.
Spufford’s alternative history - based on the idea that the smallpox which wiped out 95% of the original inhabitants of North America arrived in a less venomous version, leading to a continuing mass population of Native Americans - is dense at first. Though he can’t avoid the narrative dumps completely, on the whole he shapes his narrative so that the reader finds out how and why Cahokia came to be the way it is, as the detectives search for the conspiracy that lies behind the murder of a civil servant.
It’s a mash-up of alternative history and noir thriller that takes time to emerge from the set-up, but once it does Spufford proves that he can not only world-build, he can deliver page-turning action sequences: a violent mass Klansmen rally and a mob shoot-out are both thrilling extended set pieces that dominate the second half of the novel.
Cahokia is a fully-realised city, from its trolley buses to its utility companies (these play a big role). Barrow is our impetuous but always moral guide in a week of investigation that takes him from hereditary civic leaders to speakeasies, slaughterhouses and slums. Though the Fatherland comparisons are apt, to me in its sense of different cities occupying the same urban space it recalls The City and the City, China Mieville’s masterpiece of overlapping realities.
At times Spufford’s skill at keeping his various plates spinning is almost too much: there is a sense of a slight overpowering of the story by symbolism at the end. Barrow has to literally choose between getting on that midnight train to Georgia (not actually Georgia), or following up that ‘just one more thing’ about the case. But these are minor gripes. Having given himself a hugely demanding task, this novel brings it off almost entirely successfully.
Review copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
bluedijon's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
yellagal57's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
miklosha's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5