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A review by book_concierge
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
3.0
Audio book performed by Ari Graynor
Isabel Spellman is 28 years old and has always worked for her family business – Spellman Investigations. Having been trained by her parents and uncle since she was in middle school, she’s reasonably good at ferreting out the “dirt” on just about anyone, but she’s feeling rather rebellious these days. She’s met a guy she really likes and when her parents start following her and paying her little sister, Rae, to help with the surveillance, Izzy figures it’s time to leave the family business. Except, they won’t let her go … or at least not until she solves a 12-year-old missing person case that has never been resolved.
This is a pretty entertaining read. The characters are fun and interesting, though I felt the parents could have been a bit better developed. It was somewhat reminiscent of the Stephanie Plum series, but not nearly so zany, and Isabel is competent at her job (and doesn’t blow up any cars). I like Izzy quite a lot as a main character, and I’d like to read more of the series to see what happens with her.
I started out listening to the audio book and really liked Ari Graynor as a narrator. But I noticed a couple of disconnects and decided to check the text version to ensure I had my facts straight. Which is how I discovered that the audio was abridged (the library’s tag obscured that little fact on the cover). I read the last third of the book in text so that I didn’t miss anything important.
Isabel Spellman is 28 years old and has always worked for her family business – Spellman Investigations. Having been trained by her parents and uncle since she was in middle school, she’s reasonably good at ferreting out the “dirt” on just about anyone, but she’s feeling rather rebellious these days. She’s met a guy she really likes and when her parents start following her and paying her little sister, Rae, to help with the surveillance, Izzy figures it’s time to leave the family business. Except, they won’t let her go … or at least not until she solves a 12-year-old missing person case that has never been resolved.
This is a pretty entertaining read. The characters are fun and interesting, though I felt the parents could have been a bit better developed. It was somewhat reminiscent of the Stephanie Plum series, but not nearly so zany, and Isabel is competent at her job (and doesn’t blow up any cars). I like Izzy quite a lot as a main character, and I’d like to read more of the series to see what happens with her.
I started out listening to the audio book and really liked Ari Graynor as a narrator. But I noticed a couple of disconnects and decided to check the text version to ensure I had my facts straight. Which is how I discovered that the audio was abridged (the library’s tag obscured that little fact on the cover). I read the last third of the book in text so that I didn’t miss anything important.