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jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Life has been a lot lately — nothing too bad, just new developments — and it’s affected my reading. Usually, I knock out around 10-12 books a month. This month, I’ll get to maybe 7 if I’m lucky. Hopefully, I’m back on the horse by next month when my library’s summer reading bingos begin.
At any rate, part of why I read so fast is not just retention but also so I can keep up with the momentum of a story. When I don’t have the time or desire to read — for whatever reason — it can make books (fiction in particular) feel stale.
So it should say something about Box Nine that it took me almost a week to finish despite not being very long. I still don’t know how I feel about it overall but I’m not sure if that was because I couldn’t keep pace with the story’s momentum or if I didn’t like it as much as I thought I did. It’s sort of a weird in between. But I didn’t regret reading it, so there’s that.
Rarely do I come across a highly recommended series that I’m not at least somewhat familiar with but this one was plugged by David Peace and James Ellroy…and I hadn’t even heard of it. A character-driven crime novel set in a depressed Massachusetts mill town hit by drugs, this book is light on thrills and perhaps too long on characterization. And yet, it worked because the characters are interesting and textured, the setting appropriately bleak. It reminded me in a way of a more intense, more urbane version of KC Constantine’s Mario Balzic series. It knows its people and it knows its place.
Also, for a book that meandered to its conclusion, it certainly had a great one.
The series isn’t in wide circulation; my local library had the first copy but not the second. So I don’t know when I’ll get to book two but I will some day. It’s an interesting presentation for a mystery tale.
At any rate, part of why I read so fast is not just retention but also so I can keep up with the momentum of a story. When I don’t have the time or desire to read — for whatever reason — it can make books (fiction in particular) feel stale.
So it should say something about Box Nine that it took me almost a week to finish despite not being very long. I still don’t know how I feel about it overall but I’m not sure if that was because I couldn’t keep pace with the story’s momentum or if I didn’t like it as much as I thought I did. It’s sort of a weird in between. But I didn’t regret reading it, so there’s that.
Rarely do I come across a highly recommended series that I’m not at least somewhat familiar with but this one was plugged by David Peace and James Ellroy…and I hadn’t even heard of it. A character-driven crime novel set in a depressed Massachusetts mill town hit by drugs, this book is light on thrills and perhaps too long on characterization. And yet, it worked because the characters are interesting and textured, the setting appropriately bleak. It reminded me in a way of a more intense, more urbane version of KC Constantine’s Mario Balzic series. It knows its people and it knows its place.
Also, for a book that meandered to its conclusion, it certainly had a great one.
The series isn’t in wide circulation; my local library had the first copy but not the second. So I don’t know when I’ll get to book two but I will some day. It’s an interesting presentation for a mystery tale.
litwrite's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting experimental noir fiction that really strives to transcend the usual genre tropes and has some big ideas but ultimately is let down by a trite ending and a resolution that while, tying up all the strings neatly, I think was a little *too* pat and resolves all the plot points without fully realizing the potential of the strong undercurrent of ideas regarding language and the power of words.
I'd be interested to check out [b:Word Made Flesh|253786|Word Made Flesh|Jack O'Connell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1401935600l/253786._SY75_.jpg|245933], which I hear amongst the books in this Quinsigamond series is the most fully developed and really pulls together a lot of the ideas that Jack O'Connell is playing with. I do enjoy books like these (similar to [b:Pontypool Changes Everything|1740125|Pontypool Changes Everything|Tony Burgess|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389828154l/1740125._SY75_.jpg|1737733], another book that's on my radar that I haven't gotten around to yet) that really play with words and the destructive power of language in a different way. I would suggest to anyone that's interested in the theme of transformative art.
I'd be interested to check out [b:Word Made Flesh|253786|Word Made Flesh|Jack O'Connell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1401935600l/253786._SY75_.jpg|245933], which I hear amongst the books in this Quinsigamond series is the most fully developed and really pulls together a lot of the ideas that Jack O'Connell is playing with. I do enjoy books like these (similar to [b:Pontypool Changes Everything|1740125|Pontypool Changes Everything|Tony Burgess|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389828154l/1740125._SY75_.jpg|1737733], another book that's on my radar that I haven't gotten around to yet) that really play with words and the destructive power of language in a different way. I would suggest to anyone that's interested in the theme of transformative art.
zzzrevel's review against another edition
1.0
I thought this book had an interesting premise and plot, and the first few sequences in the book were exciting, sort of an adrenalin rush feel, that I felt this was going to be a great book. Unfortunately it devolves into a mess somewhere in the second half of the book with head-scratching motives and actions by the characters that I lost interest and in fact was perturbed that I had invested the time in trying to read it.
It wasn't a DNF (I did have to see how it ended), but it was darn close, and the climax did turn out to be a cluster.
It wasn't a DNF (I did have to see how it ended), but it was darn close, and the climax did turn out to be a cluster.
mhall89446's review against another edition
3.0
While having heard a lot about O'Connell's debut book over the past decade, I figured it was time to sit down and read it. It gets three stars since it has both some high and low points.
High points--at least for Lenore and her brother Ike, characterization is excellent. These two flawed characters come to life throughout this novel from their words and actions. To a lesser extent, Ike's fantasy love interest, Eva, comes off as another flawed character. O'Connell's writing style is what I like also: the prose is spare, not overly detailed and scenes are broad brushed and you aren't wading through pages of minute detail that have no bearing on the story.
Low points--while Woo starts off as a almost believable character, his transition to villain, is abrupt and makes no sense. The new drug that is being introduced into Quinsigamond also seems hokey; why O'Connell just didn't stick with heroin or some other drug that was breaking onto the scene in the 1980s or 1990s is beyond me. Storytelling is not O'Connell's strong suit either; at times this book seems episodic and has very little linear storytelling in my opinion. There are also some procedural mistakes--I don't know many police jurisdictions that would still allow an officer to be active and on duty after they shoot and kill an individual.
I'll try another in O'Connell's Quinsigamond series. That will determine if I go for a third or more of his books.
High points--at least for Lenore and her brother Ike, characterization is excellent. These two flawed characters come to life throughout this novel from their words and actions. To a lesser extent, Ike's fantasy love interest, Eva, comes off as another flawed character. O'Connell's writing style is what I like also: the prose is spare, not overly detailed and scenes are broad brushed and you aren't wading through pages of minute detail that have no bearing on the story.
Low points--while Woo starts off as a almost believable character, his transition to villain, is abrupt and makes no sense. The new drug that is being introduced into Quinsigamond also seems hokey; why O'Connell just didn't stick with heroin or some other drug that was breaking onto the scene in the 1980s or 1990s is beyond me. Storytelling is not O'Connell's strong suit either; at times this book seems episodic and has very little linear storytelling in my opinion. There are also some procedural mistakes--I don't know many police jurisdictions that would still allow an officer to be active and on duty after they shoot and kill an individual.
I'll try another in O'Connell's Quinsigamond series. That will determine if I go for a third or more of his books.
emmymau's review against another edition
1.0
Didn't finish this one, got a bit more than halfway through. A bit too wordy, a bit too passively written, a lack of particularly vivid characters, stilted dialogue and the weird present-tense writing style (as well as several other style "tricks") kept me from getting into it really, and I decided to move on to something better. The book might be a victim of its age, too; it felt really dated.
psalmcat's review against another edition
4.0
Sort of postmodern noir, a la [a:Carol O'Connell|42353|Carol O'Connell|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1262654769p2/42353.jpg] (I actually kept wondering if this was the same author--it's not). Set in the fictional town of Quinsigamond, somewhere in New England, this follows a set of twins who both get wrapped up in trying to figure out who has unloaded a crateful of a new drug called Lingo onto their city. Lingo makes one able to speak faster and remember everything you've said. It also makes you talk so fast your jaws are a blur and the words are a nasty insecty hum.
One of the twins, Lenore, is a cop who has not slept in 6 months. For her, working in the Narcotics Division means access to speed. So she's developed a use for it in her life. She is brought in to solve the Lingo issue. Her brother, Ike, is a postal worker who is about as milquetoast as a person can be, and he keeps finding icky (really, the only word) parcels being delivered to an unused mailbox.
Together they not only re-establish their need for one another but also open the question of which of them is actually the stronger.
There's virtually no one in this book who is decent and good, and certainly no one you'd want to hang around with for more than, say, uhm, 30 seconds. But, as in all noir, at the end, decency wins out and (some of) the bad guys are solidly defeated. For today.
One of the twins, Lenore, is a cop who has not slept in 6 months. For her, working in the Narcotics Division means access to speed. So she's developed a use for it in her life. She is brought in to solve the Lingo issue. Her brother, Ike, is a postal worker who is about as milquetoast as a person can be, and he keeps finding icky (really, the only word) parcels being delivered to an unused mailbox.
Together they not only re-establish their need for one another but also open the question of which of them is actually the stronger.
There's virtually no one in this book who is decent and good, and certainly no one you'd want to hang around with for more than, say, uhm, 30 seconds. But, as in all noir, at the end, decency wins out and (some of) the bad guys are solidly defeated. For today.
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