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Kirsten Miller posted the entirety of The Irregular Guide to New York City over at her blog for free, so zip on over and snag the PDF!

Blog tours are a rarity here at Bookshelves of Doom, so on the very few occasion that one swings through, you can be confident in assuming that I feel very strongly indeed about the book in question.

It's been six years since the last Kiki Strike book, and even the most devoted fans of Ananka Fishbein and the Irregulars had given up hope of a third installment. So when The Darkness Dwellers was announced, there was much rejoicing in the kidlitosphere. And not classy, tempered, polite rejoicing, but RAUCOUS, DELIGHTED SQUEEING.

I was working when I found out, and it's possible that I whooped so long and so loudly that some of my patrons shushed me... but I'm not admitting to anything.

If you haven't read the first two books, you're missed out on huge fun: Kiki Strike is a tiny, white-haired girl with life-threatening allergies, a penchant for wearing black and using her martial arts prowess on anyone who gets in her way... and is a secret princess to boot; Ananka is our narrator, has a avid interest in all things cryptozoology and conspiracy, who lives in an apartment with a private library so impressive that it would rival most public ones; Betty is a sweet-natured master of disguise; DeeDee is a science genius and explosives expert; Luz is aggressive and crabby, but a whiz with gadgets; Oona is a hacker, lock-picker, and business maven; Iris is a younger-mascot-turned-member. Because they're teenage girls, villains often underestimate them... but like Mary Quinn, Buffy, and any number of kickass heroines, Kiki and the Irregulars always use that to their advantage.

As in the first two books, many of the chapters end with sections of practical advice about how to handle oneself in a number of tight spots. In the previous books, the advice offered up would have been right at home in one of the Worst Case Scenario handbooks... but this time, in a rather brilliant twist, those sections could have come straight from Miss Manners. It's all about being a twenty-first-century lady (or gentleman): there are sections on Tea Parties and Flower Arranging, Delightful Dinners and The Rendezvous. NEVER FEAR, THOUGH, the girls haven't come close to losing their edge, and the advice sections are just as clever and subversive as fans would expect. 

So, I went in with high hopes—which is sometimes a dangerous proposition—but I'm happy to report that Kirsten Miller has done it again: like its predecessors, The Darkness Dwellers is chock-full of excitement, mystery, secrets, disguises, stock market shenanigans, and smartypants humor. There are punches thrown and tires slashed; code-breaking and chemistry and cool tidbits of lesser-known history.

And while that'd be plenty to keep anyone entertained, it's ALSO an emotionally engaging story about the importance of loyalty, honor, friendship, and family; about realizing that sometimes you can rely more on the family you choose than the family you're born to, but that you also shouldn't be too quick to give up on people. That there isn't only one way to be strong; that you don't have to appear hard-as-nails to be tough; and that being compassionate, polite, and offering second chances doesn't equate to being weak... as long as you don't throw your pragmatism out the window. (And always keep your right hook in reserve, just in case.) 

Kiki and friends, I'm glad you're back, even though I'm well aware that this might be your last outing. If so, I'm comfortable with that—the major plot threads were resolved, after all—but I very much hope that it won't be.

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Author page.

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Amazon.

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Book source: Review copy via Netgalley.

I really need to go back and read Brenna Yovanoff's The Space Between, because somehow I never made time for it last year. Which is ridiculous, because I enjoy her so very much: her stories satisfy my weird, vaguely uncomfortable fascination with the macabre without coming off as sensationalized or exploitative. She also writes sensitively about difficult topics—in the case of Paper Valentine, about grief and eating disorders and the nature of sociopathy—but without getting maudlin, and with a good deal of dark humor.

It's been six months since Hannah Wagnor's best friend Lillian died, and Hannah is still reeling... but not for the reason you'd assume. No, Hannah's having a hard time letting go of Lillian because Lillian won't let go of her: she's been haunting Hannah ever since she died.

As Juliet Stevenson's character in Truly Madly Deeply could attest, being haunted by the ghost of a loved one—no matter how loved—is not a comfortable, comforting thing. For one thing, you're constantly faced with a reminder of your loss... and for another, even in death, your loved one still has all the obnoxious habits that drove you bananas when s/he was still alive.

On top of that, it's the hottest July on record (SUCH a treat to read about in January, for reals); Hannah's had a couple of moments with Finny Boone, the town's resident delinquent; and someone in Ludlow is murdering young girls. Lillian is convinced that it's a serial killer, and she wants to catch him. Dead or alive, Lillian gets what she wants... so, despite the danger, Hannah starts investigating.

Yay! I'm happy to say that Paper Valentine lives up to its lovely cover art. As I said above, it's got elements of the macabre (in addition to the murders and the ghost, birds are literally dropping dead—like, falling from the sky—due to an avian virus), but it's also, very much, a story about grief and about moving on (both the desire to and fear of).

Hannah and Lillian's friendship is appropriately complex; and as the story plays out, it's clear that their friendship was just as complex in life, but in different ways. Lillian was a Queen Bee-type, and her death affected the balance within their group of friends, but she is never simply a Queen Bee. Even in death, she's a believable, real, three-dimensional person, and Hannah is just as real and believable. They both have a lot going on under the surface—as you might imagine, Hannah, especially, is under a huge amount of pressure—and Yovanoff does a fantastic job of showing that through their actions, interactions, and emotions. Oh, and bonus points for Hannah's creative side: the descriptions of her homemade clothing (not to mention the FANTASTICALLY WONDERFUL decoupage project that shows up in the last third) are super.

While I'm talking about characters, of course, I can't forget to mention FINNY BOONE, who I suspect will walk away from this book trailed by a whole parade of fangirls. The Bad Boy/Good Guy type IS ridiculously difficult to resist. He's a little bit of a stock character—Hulking Brooder Who's Been Hurt In The Past, Is Great With Kids, And Is Very Protective Of Those He Cares About—but he's still pretty irresistible.

As for the mystery component, the solution totally surprised me in the best sort of way: when I thought back, I realized that there'd been clues, and that I'd (SHOCKINGLY) just missed them. And along those same lines, I had no complaints about Hannah's detective technique: she made connections fast and acted on them quickly, and while she took chances, they weren't stupid or unnecessary ones.

Thumbs up, obviously. 

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Author page.

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Amazon.

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Book source: Review copy from the publisher.

...have been announced:

Emily’s Dress and Other Missing Things, by Kathryn Burak

The Edge of Nowhere, by Elizabeth George:

I absolutely guarantee that some of you will want to throw this book across the room. For one, some readers are bound to be hugely disappointed by the prosaic solution to the mystery. Much more problematic, however, is the portrayal of the one black character—an adoptee from Uganda; he is constantly exoticized and, in more ways than one, comes off as very much “other.”

Crusher, by Niall Leonard:

There are no firsts, and there is no coming of age. When the book begins, Finn has already joined the adult world. He’s already dealt with major loss (when his mother abandoned him), is way past experimenting with mind-altering substances and he lost his virginity years ago. As he’s no longer in school, he’s working full-time—pretty much supporting the household. When his father dies, there isn’t a big reckoning about responsibility, finances or authority. His dealings with adults are all on adult terms; while he doesn’t get a whole lot of respect from them, that’s less about his age and more about his demeanor. In a nutshell, Crusher isn’t a crime story that also portrays an aspect of the teen experience. It’s a crime story, period.

Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone, by Kat Rosenfield:

The specialness isn’t just in Rosenfield’s description, turns of phrase or how she captures the slow, heavy feel of summer. It’s about how she makes every single action, interaction, sometimes even the briefest of moments...feel like a turning point. There’s a constant sense of dread, inevitability and change.

Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein:

Trust me? Add this to your list. Don’t trust me? Add it to your list anyway. Fan of historical fiction? Espionage? World War II stories? Add it, add it, add it. Even if your tastes don’t usually tend in that direction, you need to pick it up anyway. It will make you dissolve into a puddle, and then, once you’ve recovered, you’ll immediately read it all over again. That’s what I did.

I've read four of the five YA titles. (And I still don't think that Crusher is actually YA, but whatevs.) 

You?

...I wrote about Jacquelyn Mitchard's What We Saw at Night, the first book in Soho's new Teen imprint:

It’s a solid thriller with a cool premise—think Rear Window, but starring a Parkour-practicing heroine who has Xeroderma Pigmentosum, a condition that makes sunlight not just dangerous, but life-threatening—strong dialogue and character development, exciting action, suspenseful plotting, and the requisite smootchies, AS WELL AS being a really believable, effective story about friendship, secrets and lies.

In other recent Kirkus columns, I covered April Lindner's Catherine (Wuthering Heights in NYC) and Adrienne Kress' The Friday Society (Charlie's Angels goes steampunk).

On the Fifth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me five gold rings...

There's only one gold ring in Storm Catchers, but it's important. Thirteen-year-old Ella is snatched from her family's house in the middle of the night, and, fearing for her life, her parents follow the kidnapper's instructions and leave the authorities out of it.

Wracked with guilt—he was supposed to be home with Ella and their three-year-old brother Sammy—fifteen-year-old Fin turns Ella's GOLD RING into a dowsing pendant, and together, he and Sammy attempt to find Ella before it's too late. BUT. There's much more going on than at first glance, and since Ella's kidnapping, Sammy's mysterious imaginary—or is she?—friend has been drawing him into ever-scarier, ever-more-dangerous situations, and there's this old tramp who's been hanging around...

Storm Catchers reminded me a little bit of Susan Cooper—it's set in Cornwall, is totally creepy, and it has that Old Fashioned '70s Adventure flavor—though it's heavier on action than any Cooper I've ever read. There's a little bit of Mary Downing Hahn in here, too: as in Wait Till Helen Comes, there's a ghost girl and a whole lot of crappy behavior on the part of the parents. Fin's father, especially, is absolutely insufferable—he's very open about blaming Fin for Ella's disappearance, even though SPOILER the whole situation has come about due to his own actions a decade ago END SPOILER—and neither parent ever thinks to turn to Fin and say, "IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT. YOU'RE A FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD BOY, CLEARLY NOT A FIGHTER, AND EVEN SMALL FOR YOUR AGE. IF YOU'D BEEN THERE, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN HURT OR KILLED, AND IT'S LIKELY THAT ELLA STILL WOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN. WE'RE GLAD THAT YOU'RE SAFE." Bowler taps right into that ADULTS ARE UNFAIR NO-NOTHINGS feeling, but some readers are bound to be annoyed that Fin never voices any sort of frustration with any of it. Then again, he's kind of busy trying to find his sister, to keep his younger brother safe, and to figure out what the heck his father is hiding. So maybe he just doesn't have the time for a good old gripe session.

It's a LOT to cram into two hundred pages—kidnapping, ghost, family secrets, big-time betrayal, blackmail, telepathy, magic, and tragic death—so some of it feels somewhat undeveloped, but overall, it's well-written, atmospheric, the action sequences are fast-paced and cinematic, and at points, it's super scary. Fun stuff, and bound to appeal to readers looking for that semi-wholesome (er... there's no romance or major profanity, anyway, though the storyline involves marital infidelity) old-fashioned adventure feel.

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Index.

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Author page.

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Amazon.

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Book source: ILLed through my library.

...I wrote about Janet Fox's Sirens:

The issues raised in this book—which, remember, is set almost 100 years ago—are frighteningly similar to many of those raised in the most recent election cycle. While that may sound scary and depressing, it isn’t. Rather, by the end, Sirens is a celebration of girl power, sisterhood, and hope for the future.

...there's a new one called Maine Crime Writers that is written, appropriately, by a group of Maine Crime Writers.

The University of Chicago Press is offering up Richard Stark's The Score for free this month, as well as 30% off of all of the other books in the Parker series.

EEEEP!

If you don't know these books, you should: Parker is boss.

(via Jacket Copy)

Let's get the unpleasantness out of the way first, shall we?

I hate the cover on this book. The core of my being burns with a horrified, righteous fury that such a delightful book is trapped behind what appears to be a lazypants Photoshop job.

I've been hoping for months that the cover will be different on the actual book, but now we're two weeks away from the publication date and this is the cover featured at Amazon and on the publisher's website... so it looks like what we're seeing is what we'll get.

Basically, it's a good thing for The Name of the Star that I—along will her eight bajillion other fans—will pick up anything with Maureen Johnson's name on it. Because—and maybe this is just me?—if I'd only had the cover art to go on, I very probably would have assumed that it was yet another self-pubbed paranormal romance and wandered right on by. (Without picking it up, I mean.)

Anyway. On to the book itself, which is much more happy-making.

Due to her parents' European teaching sabbatical, Aurora "Rory" Deveaux leaves Bénouville, Louisiana to spend her senior year at a boarding school in London. Unlike Anna Oliphant, though, Rory's been planning for this trip for years. She knows the difference between England and Britain and the United Kingdom, has researched English expressions and the school system, and has even resigned herself to that whole Mandatory Sport Thing.

What she isn't prepared for—and how could she be?—is arriving at Wexford the day after a series of Jack the Ripper copycat killings begins. Wexford is located in the East End, smack-dab in the middle of Ripper territory, and thus, at the epicenter of the wave of grotesquely-tacky-but-sadly-predictable Rippermania that surrounds the murders.

She's even less prepared to be the only person who's seen the prime suspect: A man who no one else appears to be able to see...

Hooray! New MJ series. If you're already a fan, you've probably already pre-ordered it. To which I say: GOOD SHOW AND SMART THINKING. You'll be pleased.

There isn't much else I can add—I'm always more tongue-tied about books that I enjoy than about books that that I don't—other than that The Name of the Star features everything you'd expect in a Maureen Johnson book: strong, snappy dialogue; a relatable heroine; romance; pure entertainment-with-a-capital-E. (The romance, though, takes a backseat to other storylines.)

Rory is a likable, believable, witty main character; there are quirky side characters (some of them completely off screen); the Ripper situation is an extraordinary one, but people react realistically to it (I always love that); and regular life continues even as the craziness ensues (meaning that, yes, there are boarding school hijinks and verbal slap-fights along with the ghostie bits).

Maureen Johnson does a great job of conveying the horror of the original (and the new) murders, while ALSO being understanding about peoples' fascination with them. The atmosphere around Rippermania is both bloodthirsty and fearful, which should be an oxymoron, but isn't: It's a combination that we've seen again and again, both portrayed in story (the Scream movies, for example) and played out in real life (the freaking nightly news). I'd like to say that h

Born into a family of thieves, 15-year-old Katarina Bishop has gone rogue: sort of. She no longer steals for profit. Instead, she steals to right wrongs, mostly by way of repossessing artwork that the Nazis stole during WWII and returning it to the rightful owner. (Or the rightful owner's descendants.)

She's been taking bigger and bigger chances, doing jobs alone, refusing help—even from the mysterious (and very attractive) rich-boy-turned-thief W.W. Hale—and her friends are getting understandably worried.

When she's approached by the old woman whose family was cheated out of the fame and fortune that should have come from their discovery of Cleopatra's tomb, she makes a risky decision: To steal the world-famous Cleopatra emerald.

Problem #1: It's cursed. Since it was discovered, every job that's ever been planned around it has gone wrong.

Problem #2: It's forbidden. Off-limits. Her Uncle Eddie red-flagged it years ago, and if he finds out what she's up to... well, it's an unforgivable offense, and being cursed by the last of the pharaohs is NOTHING to being on Uncle Eddie's bad list.

Like Heist Society, Uncommon Criminals is a fun, funny, cotton-candy-bathtub-book of a read. However! It's unusual, but this is a case in which I enjoyed the sequel much more than the original.

Uncommon Criminals is a stronger book than Heist Society, period. While Heist Society relied on TELLing and infodumps to Set the Stage, Uncommon Criminals didn't. True, that was partly because the storyline had already been set in place in Book One, but it was mostly because the comparable section in this book—the part at the beginning where Carter reminds old readers What Is What and gets new readers up to speed—was handled much more gracefully. So that was really nice to see, and much more enjoyable to read. Recommended to the usual suspects: fans of the Gallagher Girls and chick-lit-ish mysteries.

Heist Society is going to be a movie, and I think it'll translate really well to screen—though after reading this one, I think it might be even more fun as a CW series. Now that Kat is doing the Robin Hood thing, it's basically Leverage with teenagers.

And we all know how much fun Leverage is.

(OH MY GOD! They could have a network crossover and have the Heist Society crew team up with the Leverage crew! If, you know, Heist Society was a show. No, this isn't just because I'd like more opportunities to see Eliot beat people up. I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. LA LA LA LA LA.)

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Previously:

Heist Society

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Book source: ILLed through my library.

Chief Inspector George Suttle is abruptly disturbed from yet another night of not sleeping by an intruder in his house.

One of the Restless has gained entry, and while the majority of his household survives, sadly, his housekeeper does not. Even worse—well, depending on your perspective—one of the maids, the adorable Louisa, has been bitten.

But the Chief Inspector, as one of the Young—Sunlight is not a problem, provided one uses zinc paste and wears a hat. And the latter is only good breeding, after all.—is able to arrange for her to take the cure.

Such is life in the Deadwardian age. 

Now, CI George Suttle, the last of London's homicide detectives, has a new case: one of the Young has been murdered. Meaning that someone has managed to murder that which was not alive... 

So, The New Deadwardians.

Artwork?: Eh. It's clear and totally serviceable, but not faintworthy.

Storyline?: Well, it's the first in a miniseries, so even though not a whole lot happens, it introduces the world and the characters and the basic plot. AND HOO BOY I LOVE THE WORLD, what with the zombies and the vampires and the Edwardian era. And I'm always a sucker for a murder mystery.

Read the next one?: OH MY GOD YES. Now, granted, this is ridiculously Up My Alley, but still. FUN FUN FUN.

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Book source: Bought.

From her blog:

I think we may all be little children about the people we love.  It is easy to say ‘I can’t believe she’s gone’, and the phrase is a cliché because it has been true so often, of so many much-loved people.  I find myself thinking that if maybe I don’t read that last book, the one I can’t read till the next one comes out, maybe, somehow, she won’t be gone, because she’ll have to write that next book for me, for all of us. 

Bursting into tears minutes before leaving for work = AWESOME.

Go. Read the whole thing.

(And, in case you didn't know, we're in the middle of an ongoing DWJ Celebration.)

...isn't YA, but it's a pick of interest in our household: a collection of seven Norwegian crime novels by Karin Fossum.

This issue picks up not long after the first one ended: the body of the murdered man—one of the Young—is now being prepped for autopsy. Everyone is still at a loss about the hows of the death—the as-yet unidentified man hadn't been impaled, incinerated, or decapitated—let alone the whos or whys.

While we see the beginning of CI Suttle's investigation—including the identification of the victim, some research into the strange burn marks on his neck, and a conversation with his valet—as well as a bit more about Suttle's household, including Louisa's reaction to being newly-Young, this issue is really more about providing some background about the world. 

Artwork? I'm still not blown away, though I just noticed that all of the Young appear to have amber-colored eyes. The faces, especially, still aren't doing much for me, though I noticed something cool: while the faces of the Young all share a bland similarity (beyond eye color, I mean), the faces of the humans are more varied, and some of them have features so exaggerated that they almost resemble caricatures.

Storyline? As this issue provided more backstory, it got a little infodumpy as it caught new readers up to speed and then introduced more history, but not in such a way that it was egregiously offensive.

I especially like this aspect of the world: the Young (vampires) and the Bright (human) are divided not only along mortal lines, but along class lines. The Young are the upper crust, and the bright are the working class. Which means that the ruling class is very concerned with keeping the details of this murder quiet—if it gets out, as Suttle's superior says, "We won't seem so bloody superhuman and immortal after all, will we?"

Keep going? While this issue didn't do a ton for me, I'm going to keep reading because I do love the premise. I hope very much that ultimately, I'll love it for the story and the characters as well. But my hopes for the series are a little less high than they were.

Previously:

Issue #1.

The YA winner is Blink and Caution, by Tim Wynne-Jones.

See the rest of 'em here.

Click on over to Kirsten Miller's tumblr for the details of the How to Lead a Life of Crime cover contest.

(I'm immediately interested to see how the book compares to Evil Genius, which has a very similar premise.)

From PW:

Bestselling YA author Andrea Cremer has agreed to do an adult erotic trilogy for Dutton. The author, who is best known for her popular Nightshade series (which Penguin’s Philomel imprint publishes), sold world rights to three books that will be set within the Nightshade world. ... The first book in the series—Dutton said it’s about “the lives, passions, and betrayals of lovers whose very desires invite their dooms”—is scheduled for October 2013.

FROM SOHO PRESS!

SO. EXCITING.

*faints*

Here, feel free to peruse this sampler of their upcoming offerings while I recover.

Or, well, he's about to be.

John Banville, under the name Benjamin Black, is writing a new book:

This idea has been germinating for several years and I relish the prospect of setting a book in Marlowe's California, which I always think of in terms of Edward Hopper's paintings. Bay City will have a slightly surreal, or hyper-real, atmosphere that I look forward to creating.

After reading the news about the upcoming television adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis' Alias comic, I wanted to re-read the books. So I headed up to the attic to look for my copies.

I never found them, though, because I got distracted by Tommy Monaghan.

He's a superpowered hitman with a big mouth. He uses telepathy and x-ray vision and his unbeatable aim (not superpowered, though those he comes up against may wonder) to take out superpowered targets. He's got a moral code, though, and only goes after the bad guys.

He doesn't even use his superpowers to cheat at cards, though he's been known to use telepathy to get in good with the ladies. He's not out to save the world -- he just wants enough money for beer* and cigarettes. And, someday, to retire to somewhere that isn't Gotham City.

In Hitman, the first collection, we get Tommy's origin story (his superpowers manifested after he was fed on by an alien parasite thingie), his first run-in with Batman:

and a three-parter where Tommy breaks into Arkham Asylum to kill the Joker. The interaction between Tommy and Batman is hilarious -- Batman is his usual broody There Is Right And There Is Wrong self, which comes off as especially obnoxious when contrasted with Tommy, who sees the world in a much more Shades of Gray way -- and even though I'm a huge Batman fan, I always, always, always find myself rooting for Tommy.

It's not an epic like Preacher, and even though they explore similar themes and share the same author, the two shouldn't even be compared. It's multi-layered, with good characterization, and is hugely violent, but with no major profanity (a combination that always makes me laugh), and just Fun Fun Fun across the board.

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*Sierra Nevada. I think of him every time I have one. (Who says product placement doesn't work?)

So there's already that upcoming John Cusack-as-Poe movie, and there's that upcoming tv show about Poe solving mysteries or whatever.

But now there's ALSO going to be a film adaptation of a book* about Poe solving yet MORE mysteries.

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*Which I totally just put on my To Read list. There's loads of other Poe fan fiction out there, though -- some of them are on this list, even more are here, and a subject search for Poe in Novelist turned up even more (but you need a username and password to access it). Any favorites to recommend? Or stinkers to avoid?

I had mixed feelings about White Cat, the first book in this series. 

Red Glove, I loved. Wholeheartedly and unreservedly.

In the world of the Curse Workers series, magic use is illegal, and therefore, magic users are generally mobsters and con artists. Criminals, at any rate.

At least, that's the perception of the general public. That distrust and fear is what keeps the entire population -- those with magical abilities and those without -- gloved at all times.

I generally don't worry overmuch about keeping my synopses free of spoilers about the earlier books in a series, but I'm not going to provide 'em here. Much of the joy in the Curse Workers series comes from their twisty-turny-double-cross-triple-cross nature, so I don't want to come close to divulging any secrets. So, my spoiler-free synopsis is:

Due to [REDACTED], high school senior Cassel Sharpe is seriously unhappy in love. Since [REDACTED], he's been keeping a huge secret from one of his older brothers, as well as putting up with his mother's usual shenanigans, which is plenty for one guy to handle. But now, he's being actively courted by the mob and the Feds: The mob, due to his discovery of [REDACTED], and the Feds, due to the murder of his other older brother. Put simply, everyone he knows wants something from him, and most of those things conflict.

Someone's going to end up extremely unhappy, and it looks like it's probably going to be Cassel.

Unlike White Cat, Red Glove kept me guessing. And guessing. And guessing. And I never guessed right, about the plotting or the characters.

At some point, I got so involved in the story that I stopped guessing -- which says a whole lot for the book, as that's a real rarity for me. In Red Glove, Holly Black captures the classic noir atmosphere and sensibility while keeping Cassel's voice and behavior believably teenagery. In other words, at times, he's hard-boiled and tough, while at others, he complains about his mother:

Believe it or not, there are magazines out there called, like, Millionaire Living or New Jersey Millionaires or whatever, that feature profiles of old guys in their homes, showing off their stuff. I have no idea who else buys them, but they're perfect for my mother. I think she sees them as gold digger shopping catalogs.

It makes for an excellent combination. Without giving away specifics, I also loved that while Cassel's present circumstances appear to offer few remotely viable (let alone attractive) options, he's also discovering that the possibilities for his future are much, much broader than he'd previously believed. So, unlike most noir stories, there is a ray of hope in there, albeit tiny and somewhat hidden.

Also? I love Sam.

I'm so looking forward to Book Three, especially due to how this one ended. Really, a genuinely fabulous read.

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Previously:

<

...really, no Red Glove?:

Booklist's Top 10 Crime Fiction for Youth: 2011.