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kathrinpassig's review against another edition
4.0
Das war ... weird. Nicht ganz so weird wie "Rise, Ye Sea Slugs!" von Robin D. Gill, aber es ging in die Richtung. Die Polizei ist nicht mehr ganz so Freund-und-Helfer-ig wie in den ersten beiden Bänden, was ich gut fand. Der surrealistische Silette-Glaube, dem die Protagonistin anhängt, war mir hier manchmal ein bisschen zu konkretes Lebenshilfe-Kundalinischlangen-Gerede, ich fand es besser, als (in den ersten zwei Bänden) mehr im Unklaren blieb, was das für eine Philosophie ist. Ich kann verstehen, wenn man das alles blöd findet, aber es war zufällig genau die Sorte Weirdness, die ich mag, mir hat dieser dritte Band viel Freude gemacht und ich dachte dabei einen der erfreulichsten Gedanken, die man beim Lesen denken kann, nämlich "So kann man also auch Bücher schreiben!" ("'Man kann den Salzlachs also auch noch auf diese Art essen!' sagte ich mir dabei ständig und bewunderte die Erfindungsgabe der an Gütern nicht gesegneten Bergbewohner.", Junichi'iro Tanizaki)
sandygx260's review
5.0
Sooooo much better than the second book in this series. I loved this crazy story.
katel1970's review
4.0
This was wackadoodle! And I loved that about it. I now know it's a trilogy, but I hope we get another book with Claire DeWitt at some point in the future.
siriface's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
vandermeer's review
2.0
War ok. Immerhin ist sie dieses Mal Indizien gefolgt. Es war auch nett, dass mehrere Geschichten auf einmal erzählt wurden.
books_n_critters's review
5.0
Fantastic! I won this in a Goodreads giveaway. Honestly, I had never heard of the Claire DeWitt series before, so I got the first two books - and they were awesome. This one, though,...just...wow. I loved it. I hope there will be more to this series!
jeddcole's review
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
emckeon1002's review
3.0
I've enjoyed the Claire DeWitt series, as dark and weird as they are, but The Infinite Blacktop was ultimately, disappointing. DeWitt, the self-described, best detective in the world, demonstrates her prowess in several brilliantly-named cases in her career, but when the dust has settled, she is mired in an existential mystery that's unsolvable. The "who am I, really" variety of mystery. The, "dear reader, do I really care" kind of mystery. Sleepless and fueled by super-drugs, Claire is relentless in pursuit of "the truth." Uh-huh. Not so much a whodunit, as a whoamIandwhy.
spinstah's review against another edition
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this one. I enjoyed the main story, but found the two other stories that were interspersed to be a bit distracting. Clearly we’re supposed to be making comparisons and finding answers in them, but I found it a bit hard to do that.
On the plus side, less gratuitous drug use than the last book, but Claire still puts herself through the wringer in ways that seem to defy all sense of reality.
On the plus side, less gratuitous drug use than the last book, but Claire still puts herself through the wringer in ways that seem to defy all sense of reality.
dantastic's review
5.0
Who tried to kill Claire DeWitt in a hit and run? That's what Claire wants to find out but will there be anything left of her when she finds her would-be killer?
A funny thing happened a few days ago. I was driving to work, pondering when/if a new Claire DeWitt book would be coming out, only to find there was a Goodreads giveaway for the newest one AND it was up on Netgalley. Naturally, I was all over it.
Fresh from the events of [b:Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway|15814401|Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway|Sara Gran|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1368071910s/15814401.jpg|21540836], Claire DeWitt goes through the meat grinder yet again, subsisting on stolen drugs, grit, and shear stubbornness to find the man who tried to kill her. Claire is still Claire, the drug-doing, alcohol-drinking, ass-kicking, lying, detecting machine she's always been. She's a glorious melding of old-school locked room cozy detective heroines with the damaged goods detectives of noir fiction. The Infinite Blacktop is another one of her grand, quirky, funny, broken cases.
The book is told in three threads: one with Claire and her two teenage detective friends, Kelly and Tracy, one with Claire trying to earn her PI license while piecing together the events surrounding an artist's death, and the final one, Claire's search for the man who tried to run her down. Each thread is pretty bad ass and does a great job illustrating the journey of Claire DeWitt.
The artist thread was narrowly my favorite, showing how Claire got her IP license but also showing some vulnerability from her that she doesn't show anymore. The present day thread, with Claire barely hanging on, was nearly as interesting as the artist thread but I just wanted someone to tell Claire to slow down and maybe sleep for ten hours. Although, the world's greatest detective never slows down when she's on a case...
This book answers a lot of lingering questions from the two previous books, namely what happened to Tracy, why hasn't anyone else ever read the Cynthia Silverton books, and who left the copy of Detection, Silette's book, in the unused wing of the DeWitt home all those years ago. It was pretty satisfying conclusion to the previous two books, although I hope it isn't the last we've seen of Claire DeWitt.
I don't really know what else to say without spoiling things. Claire's Dirk Gently approach to detection is as great as it ever was. Much like the previous two books, this one was a darkly humorous, quirky, gritty train wreck.
As per the last two books, Claire just barely holds everything together while searching for her quarry, going on an odyssey of substance abuse and self-discovery while proving why she is the best detective in the world. I fucking loved it. If this is the last Claire DeWitt book, it's a hell of a high note to go out on. Five out of five stars.
A funny thing happened a few days ago. I was driving to work, pondering when/if a new Claire DeWitt book would be coming out, only to find there was a Goodreads giveaway for the newest one AND it was up on Netgalley. Naturally, I was all over it.
Fresh from the events of [b:Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway|15814401|Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway|Sara Gran|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1368071910s/15814401.jpg|21540836], Claire DeWitt goes through the meat grinder yet again, subsisting on stolen drugs, grit, and shear stubbornness to find the man who tried to kill her. Claire is still Claire, the drug-doing, alcohol-drinking, ass-kicking, lying, detecting machine she's always been. She's a glorious melding of old-school locked room cozy detective heroines with the damaged goods detectives of noir fiction. The Infinite Blacktop is another one of her grand, quirky, funny, broken cases.
The book is told in three threads: one with Claire and her two teenage detective friends, Kelly and Tracy, one with Claire trying to earn her PI license while piecing together the events surrounding an artist's death, and the final one, Claire's search for the man who tried to run her down. Each thread is pretty bad ass and does a great job illustrating the journey of Claire DeWitt.
The artist thread was narrowly my favorite, showing how Claire got her IP license but also showing some vulnerability from her that she doesn't show anymore. The present day thread, with Claire barely hanging on, was nearly as interesting as the artist thread but I just wanted someone to tell Claire to slow down and maybe sleep for ten hours. Although, the world's greatest detective never slows down when she's on a case...
This book answers a lot of lingering questions from the two previous books, namely what happened to Tracy, why hasn't anyone else ever read the Cynthia Silverton books, and who left the copy of Detection, Silette's book, in the unused wing of the DeWitt home all those years ago. It was pretty satisfying conclusion to the previous two books, although I hope it isn't the last we've seen of Claire DeWitt.
I don't really know what else to say without spoiling things. Claire's Dirk Gently approach to detection is as great as it ever was. Much like the previous two books, this one was a darkly humorous, quirky, gritty train wreck.
As per the last two books, Claire just barely holds everything together while searching for her quarry, going on an odyssey of substance abuse and self-discovery while proving why she is the best detective in the world. I fucking loved it. If this is the last Claire DeWitt book, it's a hell of a high note to go out on. Five out of five stars.