bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
5.0
PI Claire DeWitt doesn't work cases, she solves mysteries. Her problem isn't that she's too hard-boiled, it's that she feels "every little thing right down to [her] bones". Still obsessed with the disappearance of her friend and fellow detective Tracy back in the eighties, she suffers another loss as her old boyfriend Paul is killed in what doesn't look much like the robbery it's supposed to.
Following her intuition and the clues she finds in bars, in comic books, in her dreams, she sleuths her way through San Francisco while emptying other people's medicine cabinets. We are also given a flashback to her teenage years when Tracy was still around co-solving mysteries in seedy sex-clubs in Brooklyn. Claire remembers being a teenager in NYC as a "secret world you gained admittance to at fourteen and left at twenty, swearing never to repeat what you'd seen. No one would believe us, anyway". As if these mysteries weren't intriguing enough, Claire also takes on The Case Of The Missing Miniature Horses, which is exactly what it sounds like. Her theory is that the three feet tall, ashamed looking "little fellows were running away to try to get some big boy genes back in the mix, or maybe committing suicide."
It's sad and funny and dark, and I loved it as much as the first book in the series. Sara Gran is a terrific writer, and Claire DeWitt my favorite PI ever.
Following her intuition and the clues she finds in bars, in comic books, in her dreams, she sleuths her way through San Francisco while emptying other people's medicine cabinets. We are also given a flashback to her teenage years when Tracy was still around co-solving mysteries in seedy sex-clubs in Brooklyn. Claire remembers being a teenager in NYC as a "secret world you gained admittance to at fourteen and left at twenty, swearing never to repeat what you'd seen. No one would believe us, anyway". As if these mysteries weren't intriguing enough, Claire also takes on The Case Of The Missing Miniature Horses, which is exactly what it sounds like. Her theory is that the three feet tall, ashamed looking "little fellows were running away to try to get some big boy genes back in the mix, or maybe committing suicide."
It's sad and funny and dark, and I loved it as much as the first book in the series. Sara Gran is a terrific writer, and Claire DeWitt my favorite PI ever.
blurjay's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A great follow up in the Claire Dewitt saga. Claire, the world's best detective, might not be everyone's cup of tea but she certainly is mine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Gun violence and Violence
hannah_jo_parker's review
dark
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Gritty. Intriguing main character. Female detective who does a lot of coke. Found it difficult to follow all the characters but found the book hard to put down.
swan_books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
stephsz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
menfrommarrs's review against another edition
3.0
I had a difficult time following the significance of past and present case relationships and am totally confused by the insight of an illustrious French private detective, Jacques Silette and his pearls of wisdom found in his rare book, Detection.
I am also surprised by my willingness to accept that the prerequisite of a flawed private eye can be alcoholism but not drug addiction.
I allow bellying up to the bar for shots until staggering home, or taking belts from the bottle hidden in a desk drawer, or slouching on the sofa in underwear drinking glass after glass while watching I Love Lucy reruns on the tube, BUT won't accept the flaw of drug addiction.
Snorting lines on a bar's porcelain toilet lid, bumping hits from the end of a key until blood trickles out the nostrils, swiping clients prescription drugs from their medicine chests just wasn't as tolerable to me.
So what's up with me? In the end they both end up on the lavatory floor, savoring the chill from the porcelain!
OLD SCHOOL!
I am also surprised by my willingness to accept that the prerequisite of a flawed private eye can be alcoholism but not drug addiction.
I allow bellying up to the bar for shots until staggering home, or taking belts from the bottle hidden in a desk drawer, or slouching on the sofa in underwear drinking glass after glass while watching I Love Lucy reruns on the tube, BUT won't accept the flaw of drug addiction.
Snorting lines on a bar's porcelain toilet lid, bumping hits from the end of a key until blood trickles out the nostrils, swiping clients prescription drugs from their medicine chests just wasn't as tolerable to me.
So what's up with me? In the end they both end up on the lavatory floor, savoring the chill from the porcelain!
OLD SCHOOL!
bbbarttt's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use
tbsims's review against another edition
1.0
rather than try putting books in a 'not interested' folder, I'm going to claim I read them and give a low rating. Putting in not interested, the algorithm seems to think I like the book.
cmbohn's review against another edition
Didn't like the main character.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Grief, and Drug abuse