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A review by unabridgedchick
The Girl with a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson
3.0
I was really excited for this book: Swanson is a local writer, and there's been a lot of good buzz about this one, and I love noir-y stores with Hitchchock-ish elements.
First, I think the jacket blurb is safe to read, and I'm going to direct readers to it lest my recap accidentally spoil anything. Second, I found the novel slow to start (which bummed me out) but at about sixty pages in, I suddenly couldn't put it down. It got good, and then it got great.
Our hero, George, is an accessible everyman and even though he and I both knew better, we both wanted the best when mysterious, gorgeous Liana swept back into his life. But there's more than one double cross going on, as George knows more about Liana than we the reader suspect, and as George tries to help out Liana, the story of what just happened their freshman year of college unspools, more and more horrifying and twisty. I read it with wholly conflicted feelings: I half wanted George to get the love of his life and half wanted him to end up with Hamlet-level tragedy.
Although set in Boston, the story takes place at a few fictionalized New England locales -- an invented liberal arts college in Connecticut, a beach side tourist town -- and with its sweltering summer setting, was a nice escape from these wintry days.
A great escapist read for the winter, a tiny bit stressful, very atmospheric, and un-put-down-able -- so get it and cross your fingers you get a snow day.
First, I think the jacket blurb is safe to read, and I'm going to direct readers to it lest my recap accidentally spoil anything. Second, I found the novel slow to start (which bummed me out) but at about sixty pages in, I suddenly couldn't put it down. It got good, and then it got great.
Our hero, George, is an accessible everyman and even though he and I both knew better, we both wanted the best when mysterious, gorgeous Liana swept back into his life. But there's more than one double cross going on, as George knows more about Liana than we the reader suspect, and as George tries to help out Liana, the story of what just happened their freshman year of college unspools, more and more horrifying and twisty. I read it with wholly conflicted feelings: I half wanted George to get the love of his life and half wanted him to end up with Hamlet-level tragedy.
Although set in Boston, the story takes place at a few fictionalized New England locales -- an invented liberal arts college in Connecticut, a beach side tourist town -- and with its sweltering summer setting, was a nice escape from these wintry days.
A great escapist read for the winter, a tiny bit stressful, very atmospheric, and un-put-down-able -- so get it and cross your fingers you get a snow day.