A review by bunnieslikediamonds
The Ninth Life of Louis Drax by Liz Jensen

4.0

Having read my first Liz Jensen (The Uninvited) recently, I expected The Ninth Life of Louis Drax to be equally difficult to categorize. It is definitely original, but more conventional in regard to the story than I anticipated. The answer to the mystery of why a nine-year-old boy is lying in a coma is just a matter of connecting the dots. I did that early on, but figured Jensen would turn everything upside down and present me with a totally unexpected mind-bending alternative. When she didn't, I grumbled a little and felt let down. But that says more about my preconceptions than it says about the novel. It's a very good book, if you can get past the parts where Louis yammers on in his vegetative state. Suspenseful, interesting, imaginative and quite the page-turner. One thing bothered me though. Suddenly there is a lot of philosophizing about women, women's nature, women's thinking and women's wily tricks, all based on one particular woman. One character even has to reassure another that not ALL women are conniving bitches. Where the frak did that come from?