(pb; 2006)
From the back cover:
“In the newest Ruby Murphy mystery, New York's inadvertent sleuth discovers more about her shrink than she could have ever imagined as the doctor turns the tables, enlisting her help in the hunt for a one-legged man who's been kidnapped and hidden in the Rockaways. Life gets stranger when Ruby is inexplicably fired from her job at the Coney Island Museum, her friend Violet's best racehorse is suddenly put up for sale, and a blue Honda begins shadowing Ruby's every move as she journeys into the wilds of Pennsylvania in search of the woman she always thought had all the answers.
“Between her apartment that is spitting distance from the Cyclone roller-coaster, the barn deep in no-man's land where she stables her horse, and the racetrack that is consuming her boyfriend, Ruby already knows her share of eccentric New York misfits. But in Flamethrower she may have finally met her match.”
Review:
Ruby, traumatized by the murder of her ex, Attila Johnson, eighteen months prior (in Gargantuan), discovers a severed human foot jutting out of her psychiatrist's fish tank. Turns out, the foot belongs to the husband of Ruby's psychiatrist (Dr. Jody Ray), who tells Ruby that her moody husband is probably pulling another kidnapping scam to get money out of her.
More than that is going on, however, forcing Ruby into yet another mystery (which reads less like a mystery than an sassy, quirky episode of Ruby's life). Estep has abandoned the first-person, alternating-characters narrative: this time out, it's all Ruby, in the first person. Estep has also streamlined the narrative, giving less time to character descriptions (which are often delectable doozies), and upping the action ante, without sacrificing the light, amiable tone of the first two books.
The only nit I have with this smile-soliciting work is that Ruby's mid-book tiff with her current beau, Ed, feels forced – Ed, in the two previous books, was never this petty, so why now? It's not enough to make me not want to own Flamethrower, but it is incongruent with Ed's previous behavior.
That said, this is my favorite entry in the series (thus far). Worth checking out.
Showing posts with label Maggie Estep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maggie Estep. Show all posts
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Gargantuan, by Maggie Estep
(pb; 2004)
From the back cover:
“Ruby’s life is nothing if not complicated: she’s spending a lot of her time worrying about a jockey named Attila Johnson; a good-hearted Teamster with a bad back; a neighbor who’s suspicious of anything that moves; one very fat cat who craves raw meat; a missing FBI agent; an underused piano; a few fine horses – and the sure knowledge that somehow, somewhere, there’s a killer among them.”
Review:
The second Ruby Murphy mystery maintains much of the joy of its predecessor, Hex. Most of the characters are charming, believable and eccentric, save one, the villain, who comes off as simple – and simplistically rendered. The black-witted, zesty story moves along quickly.
Most mysteries read on one level, as they're generally focused on corpses, clues and suspects. Estep’s use of alternating first-person POVs for each chapter eschews that traditional mystery structure, putting focus on the characters, and their mostly-pullulating personalities. Because of this, Gargantuan moves beyond its mystery-genre limitations.
This is also the reason why Gargantuan fails as a mystery. Estep’s emphasis on the characters not only fleshes out the traditional mystery structure, it makes the “mystery” element a less-than-mysterious afterthought. This flaw is exacerbated by the fact that Estep reveals the lead pseudo-villain in the first quarter of the novel.
Read as fiction, this is more than worthwhile, with Estep's understated quirkiness suffusing the prose with a life it might otherwise lack.
Followed by Flamethrower.
From the back cover:
“Ruby’s life is nothing if not complicated: she’s spending a lot of her time worrying about a jockey named Attila Johnson; a good-hearted Teamster with a bad back; a neighbor who’s suspicious of anything that moves; one very fat cat who craves raw meat; a missing FBI agent; an underused piano; a few fine horses – and the sure knowledge that somehow, somewhere, there’s a killer among them.”
Review:
The second Ruby Murphy mystery maintains much of the joy of its predecessor, Hex. Most of the characters are charming, believable and eccentric, save one, the villain, who comes off as simple – and simplistically rendered. The black-witted, zesty story moves along quickly.
Most mysteries read on one level, as they're generally focused on corpses, clues and suspects. Estep’s use of alternating first-person POVs for each chapter eschews that traditional mystery structure, putting focus on the characters, and their mostly-pullulating personalities. Because of this, Gargantuan moves beyond its mystery-genre limitations.
This is also the reason why Gargantuan fails as a mystery. Estep’s emphasis on the characters not only fleshes out the traditional mystery structure, it makes the “mystery” element a less-than-mysterious afterthought. This flaw is exacerbated by the fact that Estep reveals the lead pseudo-villain in the first quarter of the novel.
Read as fiction, this is more than worthwhile, with Estep's understated quirkiness suffusing the prose with a life it might otherwise lack.
Followed by Flamethrower.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Hex, by Maggie Estep
(pb; 2003)
From the back cover:
“Having drifted through thirty-three years of life, Ruby Murphy has put down roots in a rootless place: Coney Island. A recovering alcoholic who is fanatical in her love for animals and her misanthropic friends, Ruby lives above a furniture store and works at the Coney Island Museum. One day, Ruby is on the subway heading into Manhattan when the train stalls between stations. An elegant blond woman with a scarred face strikes up a conversation, and a misunderstanding between the two women leads to an offer Ruby decides she can’t refuse. The woman needs her boyfriend followed, and she thinks Ruby is the woman to do it – and do it right.
“Ruby’s life has been flat and painful lately. The Coney Island Museum isn’t doing much business, Ruby’s live-in boyfriend has moved out, and her best friend Oliver is battling cancer. Ruby agrees to follow the woman’s boyfriend, Frank, a man who works at Belmont Racetrack and seems to hang out in odd places with bad company. Ruby soon finds herself pushed head-first into horse-racing’s seamy underbelly. There is a dangerous world where nothing is as it appears, and people and horses seem to have limited life spans. When Ruby finds herself staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, she begins to have second thoughts.”
Review:
Estep’s poetic prose, warm and quirky characters (seven of whom express themselves in first-person narratives, in alternating chapters) and solid pacing made this a downright pleasure to read. For the few hours it took me to read it, I was immersed in this beguiling, often suspenseful work, which transcends the narrow-in-scope mystery genre.
Even if you’re not into mysteries, check this out. It’s that good.
Followed by Gargantuan.
From the back cover:
“Having drifted through thirty-three years of life, Ruby Murphy has put down roots in a rootless place: Coney Island. A recovering alcoholic who is fanatical in her love for animals and her misanthropic friends, Ruby lives above a furniture store and works at the Coney Island Museum. One day, Ruby is on the subway heading into Manhattan when the train stalls between stations. An elegant blond woman with a scarred face strikes up a conversation, and a misunderstanding between the two women leads to an offer Ruby decides she can’t refuse. The woman needs her boyfriend followed, and she thinks Ruby is the woman to do it – and do it right.
“Ruby’s life has been flat and painful lately. The Coney Island Museum isn’t doing much business, Ruby’s live-in boyfriend has moved out, and her best friend Oliver is battling cancer. Ruby agrees to follow the woman’s boyfriend, Frank, a man who works at Belmont Racetrack and seems to hang out in odd places with bad company. Ruby soon finds herself pushed head-first into horse-racing’s seamy underbelly. There is a dangerous world where nothing is as it appears, and people and horses seem to have limited life spans. When Ruby finds herself staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, she begins to have second thoughts.”
Review:
Estep’s poetic prose, warm and quirky characters (seven of whom express themselves in first-person narratives, in alternating chapters) and solid pacing made this a downright pleasure to read. For the few hours it took me to read it, I was immersed in this beguiling, often suspenseful work, which transcends the narrow-in-scope mystery genre.
Even if you’re not into mysteries, check this out. It’s that good.
Followed by Gargantuan.
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