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A review by writerdgabrielle
Children of Chicago by Cynthia Pelayo
2.0
The premise is intriguing. A modern spin on the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, centered in the haunted city of Chicago. Near as I can piece together, the whole of the story occurs within about a week, maybe four days, maybe ten. The passing of time is a bit vague throughout.
The story follows newly minted Chicago homicide detective Lauren Medina. Lauren has been a cop for only a few years and is named, within the context of the story, one of the youngest to achieve the status of detective. We open with the death of a young girl in Lauren's home neighborhood, and graffiti painted on the asphalt under her body, a calling card of sorts that Lauren recognizes right away. "Pied Piper." But it is in this moment I feel the author missed her opportunity.
I feel like the goal of the story was to follow Lauren on her descent into madness but all I felt was disconnect. Disconnect between Lauren and her life and between Lauren and the reader. I was definitely an outsider, looking in. Looking in at her relationships (if you could call them that), looking in at her service record, looking in at her trauma . . . None of it ever truly felt urgent to me. And I feel like that connection was lost in the very first reveal.
Throughout the story—early on, really—we get the sense of what really happened to Lauren as a child. To the point that I knew where the story was going, it was just a question of how we were going to get there.
Children of Chicago was told from multiple perspectives and while the transitions between one character to the next were done seamlessly and without confusion as to whose eyes we were viewing through, I think it took away from Lauren's story.
How, then, are we to witness the descent of the other characters? Through Lauren's eyes, I would suggest. However, that's not my problem as the reader to solve. There was important information revealed in some of the extraneous perspectives but there was also a great deal that made me wonder if those characters were even necessary to the telling of the story or if their roles could have been combined with others.
Everything that Mo brought to the story, for example, could have been accomplished through Fin as one character. Hadiya was little more than scenery that we passed by a few times on the journey from page one to page 301. Ruth's role in Lauren's life was little more than a footnote that didn't add much value to the overall story. Three characters who could have been either given more space, or been combined with others to take up less space.
The question, now, is how willing am I to seek out the rest of this series as it becomes available? I think, fresh off the ending of Children of Chicago, I would have to say, 5, not very likely.
The story follows newly minted Chicago homicide detective Lauren Medina. Lauren has been a cop for only a few years and is named, within the context of the story, one of the youngest to achieve the status of detective. We open with the death of a young girl in Lauren's home neighborhood, and graffiti painted on the asphalt under her body, a calling card of sorts that Lauren recognizes right away. "Pied Piper." But it is in this moment I feel the author missed her opportunity.
I feel like the goal of the story was to follow Lauren on her descent into madness but all I felt was disconnect. Disconnect between Lauren and her life and between Lauren and the reader. I was definitely an outsider, looking in. Looking in at her relationships (if you could call them that), looking in at her service record, looking in at her trauma . . . None of it ever truly felt urgent to me. And I feel like that connection was lost in the very first reveal.
Throughout the story—early on, really—we get the sense of what really happened to Lauren as a child. To the point that I knew where the story was going, it was just a question of how we were going to get there.
Children of Chicago was told from multiple perspectives and while the transitions between one character to the next were done seamlessly and without confusion as to whose eyes we were viewing through, I think it took away from Lauren's story.
How, then, are we to witness the descent of the other characters? Through Lauren's eyes, I would suggest. However, that's not my problem as the reader to solve. There was important information revealed in some of the extraneous perspectives but there was also a great deal that made me wonder if those characters were even necessary to the telling of the story or if their roles could have been combined with others.
Everything that Mo brought to the story, for example, could have been accomplished through Fin as one character. Hadiya was little more than scenery that we passed by a few times on the journey from page one to page 301. Ruth's role in Lauren's life was little more than a footnote that didn't add much value to the overall story. Three characters who could have been either given more space, or been combined with others to take up less space.
The question, now, is how willing am I to seek out the rest of this series as it becomes available? I think, fresh off the ending of Children of Chicago, I would have to say, 5, not very likely.