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A review by lattelibrarian
Monarch by Candice Wuehle
4.0
“Some criminals mark the bodies of their victims with tattoos, burns, elaborate scars. Jessica knew this was unnecessary. Visible or invisible, the imprint of the awful doesn’t slide off like lipstick under baby oil.”
Amid the great scandals of the 90s, Jessica's memory begins to resurface. A child beauty pageant star in her youth, she wakes up years later with mysterious bruises, the source of which spirals her into looking for an underground intelligence agency--one that she's long since forgotten. Being a pageant star and a secret agent isn't so different, it seems. You must learn to have an outer self, reject pain, memorize answers. But as Jessica begins to fit the pieces together, she discovers that much of her youth was spent in a government program MONARCH and that they are the ones responsible for her parents' deaths. Alongside her black-lipsticked mentor Christine, the two plunge deep into the depths of government bureaucracy to uncover their pasts and hopefully forge some semblance of a future.
Told in two parts, Wuehle makes for a totally convincing secret-agent story, perfect for fans of Orphan Black. With an ubiquitous vocabulary, references to country-shocking events (Lorena Bobbitt, OJ Simpson, and Monica Lewinski, to name a few), it is easy to believe that Jessica was once an agent regaining her memories. The second part of this novel certainly aligns more with the thriller genre than the first part, and this makes for a fast-paced, engaging read.
Amid the great scandals of the 90s, Jessica's memory begins to resurface. A child beauty pageant star in her youth, she wakes up years later with mysterious bruises, the source of which spirals her into looking for an underground intelligence agency--one that she's long since forgotten. Being a pageant star and a secret agent isn't so different, it seems. You must learn to have an outer self, reject pain, memorize answers. But as Jessica begins to fit the pieces together, she discovers that much of her youth was spent in a government program MONARCH and that they are the ones responsible for her parents' deaths. Alongside her black-lipsticked mentor Christine, the two plunge deep into the depths of government bureaucracy to uncover their pasts and hopefully forge some semblance of a future.
Told in two parts, Wuehle makes for a totally convincing secret-agent story, perfect for fans of Orphan Black. With an ubiquitous vocabulary, references to country-shocking events (Lorena Bobbitt, OJ Simpson, and Monica Lewinski, to name a few), it is easy to believe that Jessica was once an agent regaining her memories. The second part of this novel certainly aligns more with the thriller genre than the first part, and this makes for a fast-paced, engaging read.