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typedtruths's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Blog • Trigger Warning Database • StoryGraph
Graphic: Hate crime, Death, and Homophobia
Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol, Child abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Stalking
➸ Trigger warnings for sexism, queermisia (theme), sexual harassment recounted, child abuse, domestic abuse, suicide by gun violence mentioned (multiple), alcohol consumption, hospitalisation for physical injuries, death of a mother, death of a father from suicide, murder, gun violence, knife violence & stabbing, physical assault, blackmail, and stalking. Context: • Will is hospitalised for extensive injuries sustained during a physical assault (suspected hate crime). She suffers from a broken wrist, dislocated fingers, fractured ribs, and a laceration to her face. • The love interest's father and uncle are blackmailed about their sexuality. Her mother forced her father to marry her, officially claiming her pregnancy as his child, so she would not out his relationship with Wallace. He later dies by suicide from a gunshot due to the pressure of being closeted. • Lots of discussion or innuendos about the legality of queer relationships as well as period typical sexism.karcitis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Murder, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Death
Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide, Physical abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Alcohol, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Antisemitism, War, Cancer, and Terminal illness
therainbowshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Violence, Lesbophobia, Blood, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Suicide
Minor: Death of parent
lilly_anne's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, Suicide, and Death
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Grief, and Homophobia
Minor: Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, and Outing
jjreads331's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Cancer, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, Homophobia, and Terminal illness
mar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Homophobia, and Violence
Moderate: Chronic illness, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Suicide
Minor: Gun violence, Antisemitism, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, and Child abuse
prettycloud's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Murder and Homophobia
Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Biphobia, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Violence, Gun violence, and Suicide
This is a noir book, so it fulfills the genre conventions of people getting beat up and shot at regularly (including getting murdered that way). Many of the characters are LGBT+, and they experience period-appropriate homophobic violence and threats to their livelihood. The narrator ends up in a hospital at one point, but no harm to her body or agency takes place there. The narrator's mentor has multiple sclerosis but works in spite of it.novi's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
4.5
My favorite part of the book is the ending. The very end. I really didn't see it coming and it was great. What I really love about this book is that beside a mystery book, it is also a book about women killing terrible men. I got the recommendation from A Sunny Book Nook's video, titled "favorite niche book tropes & subgenres" and this book is exactly as she described. I really love this quote that Ms. Pentecost said about severing the chain of painful events that a lot of women experiences so that no one need to suffer from them. I can't put the quote here because it'll spoil the story but I just love that message and I want to do that too for all the everyone in the world, especially women.
There's one thing that frustrates me about this book though. The writing style is often not straight-forward. There's always at least one idiom in every page. For example:
"I don't know what flickered in and out of her head while she was coming up with a response, but I would have given a sawbuck to catch the matinee." (I still don't know what it means. I won't google it.)
"Being a pale redhead, I'm a master blusher. But the doc gave me a run for my money." (I often heard about "run for my money" so fine, I'd googled it. I finally understood the whole this after searching through 4 (four) dictionary websites.)
"The police are going to start flinging open closets," I said. "If you have any skeletons, they're sure to come tumbling out." (This is not about real closets and skeletons. Did people really talk like this in those days?)
If it's not obvious already, english is not my first languange. I would say I've read quite a lot of english books but I have never found one that has as many idioms as this book. Is there a word for this style? Or was that just the old american style?
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Violence
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, and Suicide
Minor: Child abuse and Lesbophobia
stubbornjerk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book did that, with Detective Willowjean Parker assisting Detective Lillian Pentecost on the case of Abigail Collins' murder. It covered topics like violence against women, homophobia during the 50s, poverty, and a lot more. It's not a hard book to read, but definitely not for the faint of heart.
It was definitely worth the read. Not as pulpy as I thought it'd be, but definitely a little cartoonish on some fronts. I mean, c'mon, a traveling ex-carnie bisexual detective? Think about it.
Though, I do think more thought put towards POC could have been considered, since this tackled a lot of things that touches on the lives of POC at the time. I pointed this out in my notes but I'm pretty sure that at the time the case is set in, Japanese people were in internment camps and the most we get of mentions of non-White American goings-on was mostly to point out that this was post-World War II.
I would have hated seeing anything mishandled, but to say that these things weren't relevant during the time this was set in, especially in a city like New York, it will have been impossible to miss it even in passing. I was reading along to the audiobook (Kirsten Potter's reading was fantastic despite minor hiccups), so I'm pretty sure I didn't miss any indicators that any of the cast of characters were POC. Almost all of them were some shade of white, though I'd love to imagine that Graham Hollis wasn't.
Graphic: Misogyny, Death of parent, Child abuse, Violence, Murder, Death, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Police brutality
Minor: Antisemitism and Homophobia
qwerty88's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Murder, and Terminal illness