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A review by bubbleybrain
The Manic Mission: Children of the Mob, #1 by C.J. Simone
5.0
The Manic Mansion: Children of the Mob is a mixed-genre book. It's lives as a YA, with primary genres being thriller, contemporary, and romance. As it is a mix, then if you're looking for exclusively one genre or the other to represent strongly, you may be quickly disappointed. However, if you're looking for something fresher and outside-of-the-box, then this has its appeal.
This multi-POV story mostly focuses on the main character, Gabriel "Gabe", and the initial dilemma he found himself in: he pissed off a mobster, and fears it will result in harm to everyone he cares about, he lacks the capacity to navigate it. Gabe runs on full-blown mania for the most of the story, and while well-intentioned in some ways, he's willfully oblivious in others. That's where the "Manic" in the title comes in; he has bipolar disorder. And this was also the reason I eventually assigned "contemporary" as the stark representation of his mental illness is not something that is common in neither thriller nor romance. Thrillers tend to lean towards competency, and romance evokes sympathy. But contemporary has this rawness and frustration of watching a character fail, constantly, at often basic social interactions, without rhyme or reason other than riding on highs and lows and an incapacity to understand consequence. A little more on this.
The depiction of Gabe's condition feels very real. And it feels very frustrating, because I can immediately connect with all the side characters in this, because I've had to watch a sibling constantly self-destruct. I've watched the same girls be dazzled by this overtly enthusiastic, talented, stunning creature and then I in turn wonder how they can put up with someone who flutters like a moth to every flame yearning to be burned. But, this is also the same person who will get intensely passionate about things, and lose interest as quickly, running on bad ideas without forethought of what consequences can come. (At least Gabe wasn't digging up parks looking for meteorites...) Gabe does legitimately hurt people, not outwardly maliciously, but at the same time, he cheats, he runs away, doesn't answer phone calls, he self-destructs spectacularly, and doesn't take onus for consequence. Some of his behaviors stem from legitimate (and exceptionally evil) trauma (and if the villains engaging in child trafficking and all those horrible things makes you cry extra hard, there's your trigger warning for this book.) By the time the book was over, I was surprised his father hadn't hired a hitman who would shoot blow darts into Gabe's neck on a regular basis, just so he would be on his medication. Like please, just stop making all the girls around you so confused and sad, Gabe! Grr!!!
The characterizations were generally good. Author Simone does answer the question eventually of why Savannah puts up with Gabe's antics (from personal observation, I always found broken girls to be the ones who had the hardest time leaving people like Gabe. And Savannah does come from a happy home, technically.) Also answers why Gabe was very disinclined to be upfront with her. Miscommunication isn't a good trope unless well-justified, so a shared trauma and not wanting her to revisit it was a very fare explanation. Generally, Simone was good at answering these types of plot-hole questions, and I found myself satisfied with the conclusions. It does come with an HEA ending, maybe not quite at blow dart level, but I'm pleased with it. I hope that these characters can heal, and that the wrong wrought within this family is confronted in future installments.
The book is a challenging read, it's an interesting read. Author Simone handled the POVs well. The blurb is very concise and informative, so read carefully and figure out if these plot points are for you.
This multi-POV story mostly focuses on the main character, Gabriel "Gabe", and the initial dilemma he found himself in: he pissed off a mobster, and fears it will result in harm to everyone he cares about, he lacks the capacity to navigate it. Gabe runs on full-blown mania for the most of the story, and while well-intentioned in some ways, he's willfully oblivious in others. That's where the "Manic" in the title comes in; he has bipolar disorder. And this was also the reason I eventually assigned "contemporary" as the stark representation of his mental illness is not something that is common in neither thriller nor romance. Thrillers tend to lean towards competency, and romance evokes sympathy. But contemporary has this rawness and frustration of watching a character fail, constantly, at often basic social interactions, without rhyme or reason other than riding on highs and lows and an incapacity to understand consequence. A little more on this.
The depiction of Gabe's condition feels very real. And it feels very frustrating, because I can immediately connect with all the side characters in this, because I've had to watch a sibling constantly self-destruct. I've watched the same girls be dazzled by this overtly enthusiastic, talented, stunning creature and then I in turn wonder how they can put up with someone who flutters like a moth to every flame yearning to be burned. But, this is also the same person who will get intensely passionate about things, and lose interest as quickly, running on bad ideas without forethought of what consequences can come. (At least Gabe wasn't digging up parks looking for meteorites...) Gabe does legitimately hurt people, not outwardly maliciously, but at the same time, he cheats, he runs away, doesn't answer phone calls, he self-destructs spectacularly, and doesn't take onus for consequence. Some of his behaviors stem from legitimate (and exceptionally evil) trauma (and if the villains engaging in child trafficking and all those horrible things makes you cry extra hard, there's your trigger warning for this book.) By the time the book was over, I was surprised his father hadn't hired a hitman who would shoot blow darts into Gabe's neck on a regular basis, just so he would be on his medication. Like please, just stop making all the girls around you so confused and sad, Gabe! Grr!!!
The characterizations were generally good. Author Simone does answer the question eventually of why Savannah puts up with Gabe's antics (from personal observation, I always found broken girls to be the ones who had the hardest time leaving people like Gabe. And Savannah does come from a happy home, technically.) Also answers why Gabe was very disinclined to be upfront with her. Miscommunication isn't a good trope unless well-justified, so a shared trauma and not wanting her to revisit it was a very fare explanation. Generally, Simone was good at answering these types of plot-hole questions, and I found myself satisfied with the conclusions. It does come with an HEA ending, maybe not quite at blow dart level, but I'm pleased with it. I hope that these characters can heal, and that the wrong wrought within this family is confronted in future installments.
The book is a challenging read, it's an interesting read. Author Simone handled the POVs well. The blurb is very concise and informative, so read carefully and figure out if these plot points are for you.