Reviews

King Zeno, by Nathaniel Rich

elizaahhh's review

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This feels like a noir, in a very True Detective kind of way. It took about a third of the book before it got interesting. I liked it in the end even if it was pretty tidy, with at least one really
important plot point sort of unexplained. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Body horror, Racial slurs, Racism, and Blood

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty

regdor's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

abookishtype's review against another edition

3.0

Nathaniel Rich’s King Zeno is the second novel I’ve read recently that takes on the Axeman Murders of New Orleans—which is fitting since it’s been a century since the still-unsolved murders were committed. (Read my review of The Axeman, by Ray Celestin.) This fictional take on the murders rotates between a police officer with PTSD, a widow who heads a major construction project in the city, and a jazz cornet player. King Zeno is stuffed with the sights and sounds of New Orleans in the winter of 1917-1918. At times, the Axeman Murders get a lost as the characters witness the evolution of hot jazz, weather the Spanish Flu epidemic, and the construction of the city’s industrial canal...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review consideration.

janetlweller's review against another edition

3.0

This book was a bit confusing and hard to get into at first, but I stuck with it and eventually found it very absorbing. It takes place in 1918 New Orleans, where "jass" (not called jazz yet) is finding its roots, a serial axe killer has not been found, and the canals are being dug. The book focuses on Detective William Bastrop, a WWI vet who suffers from guilt about his actions in the war, as well as PTSD (certainly not diagnosed at the time), Isadore Zeno, a struggling jass musician who plays the coronet, but turns to crime to pay the bills, and Beatrice Vizzini, head of an organized crime family, who want to make the business legitimate. The three are not entirely sympathetic, (but I guess that is realistic), yet I ended up enjoying the book, and found it satisfying to see the three story lines come together.

janey's review

4.0

The influenza pandemic, New Orleans jazz, and an ax murderer. What is not to love?

quintusmarcus's review

3.0

King Zeno was just plain old fun. New Orleans, 1919, ax murderer, jazz, Spanish flu, etc. The author has previously written a study of film noir, and you can tell--final scene in particular could have come right out of a classic noir flick. Not a masterpiece of literature, just a fun story.