readingwithhippos's review
5.0
And the award for most apt title goes to…! This book is seriously gritty, dark, bloody, at times disturbing, and after listing those descriptors I’m not sure I can articulate why I liked it so much. Maybe because, like its main character, it doesn’t apologize for how nasty it is. Alma Rosales, sometimes known as Jack Camp, is a former Pinkerton agent who is now working her way up the ladder in a smuggling ring headed by her beautiful onetime lover, Delphine. When she’s summoned from San Francisco to Port Townsend to infiltrate Delphine’s crew, sniffing out competitors on the outside and moles on the inside, Alma is sucked into a game so complex, I wasn’t sure until the very last page who was pulling the strings. And what a last page it is! I have a famously bad memory and most endings don’t stick with me, but I bet if you ask me a year from now how this book ended, I’ll be able to tell you. It’s one of those endings that somehow has both the feeling of total inevitability and total surprise—I had no idea which way it was going to go, but I felt like every word had led up to those few breathless seconds. The action takes place in 1887, and rarely has a book brought an era to such visceral life. You will be able to smell the sweat in the characters’ armpits. Whether that’s something you want in your reading or not, I’ll leave up to you. Would make a hell of a TV series.
efruitsnack's review
3.0
I think the concept is good however the writing fell short. The plot was messy and hard to follow and the pacing was a bit slow. There was no real character building and instead we were expected to just like these characters and pretend to care what happened to them.
3 stars because the gay sex was nice.
3 stars because the gay sex was nice.
leggsly's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
Sigh… once again questioning whether I like historical fiction…
cmgmaine's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
paperschemes's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-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
little_dog's review
Loved the concept the execution isn't quite working for me, may try to revisit at some point
livimack's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
By the end of the first 10% of this book, I already knew that I was going to have to force myself to finish it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
whiiitnee's review
2.0
An 1800’s crime fiction novel with a bisexual woman protagonist? This book hooked me right at the synopsis. The combination of fiction, mystery, and having strong women characters at the forefront is basically my dependable novel trifecta. Add in a shady drug smuggling business in a dark and vivid historical city, and I was all in and really looking forward to my dive into The Best Bad Things.
With these expectations in mind, I realized pretty early on in the book that my takeaway as a reader wasn’t really what I was hoping for. The thrill and excitement of the smuggling ring storyline just fell flat for me, and it was tough to be invested in a group of really corrupt and unlikeable characters. I got lost in what was going on pretty regularly and then found myself just trudging forward, only to lose steam again.
The execution of the novel and writing style just didn’t connect for me—the writing felt dry and the story was driven by basically intense 10/10 negative emotion only—anger, greed, violence, lust, and jealousy. It read to me like a video game where you skip the cutscenes just get to the fighting and gore, only to realize you have no idea why you’re doing what you’re doing—just going through the motions for the sake of the action.
I found Alma to be a really complicated protagonist, which was what ultimately did me in. I wanted to root for her to succeed — a woman in a man’s world, rich with ambition and cunning and desire. But then I quickly realized that she was actually just getting under my skin in the same way as all the men in the novel. Her character seemed to embody constant womanizing, tireless one-upping, and the decision to resort to violence in alarmingly every single scenario.
I will say that the author does a truly amazing job of setting the scene for Port Townsend in the 1800’s. You can really get a vivid picture of the gloominess, grime, and culture at the time and place in history.
I read a lot of reviews from people who have responded really positively to this book, so maybe it’s just not my jam. But if you do decide to pick it up, be ready for lots of talk of punching, body parts, stealing, bodily fluids, violence in general, lots of weather updates, more violence and a confusing cast of characters.
With these expectations in mind, I realized pretty early on in the book that my takeaway as a reader wasn’t really what I was hoping for. The thrill and excitement of the smuggling ring storyline just fell flat for me, and it was tough to be invested in a group of really corrupt and unlikeable characters. I got lost in what was going on pretty regularly and then found myself just trudging forward, only to lose steam again.
The execution of the novel and writing style just didn’t connect for me—the writing felt dry and the story was driven by basically intense 10/10 negative emotion only—anger, greed, violence, lust, and jealousy. It read to me like a video game where you skip the cutscenes just get to the fighting and gore, only to realize you have no idea why you’re doing what you’re doing—just going through the motions for the sake of the action.
I found Alma to be a really complicated protagonist, which was what ultimately did me in. I wanted to root for her to succeed — a woman in a man’s world, rich with ambition and cunning and desire. But then I quickly realized that she was actually just getting under my skin in the same way as all the men in the novel. Her character seemed to embody constant womanizing, tireless one-upping, and the decision to resort to violence in alarmingly every single scenario.
I will say that the author does a truly amazing job of setting the scene for Port Townsend in the 1800’s. You can really get a vivid picture of the gloominess, grime, and culture at the time and place in history.
I read a lot of reviews from people who have responded really positively to this book, so maybe it’s just not my jam. But if you do decide to pick it up, be ready for lots of talk of punching, body parts, stealing, bodily fluids, violence in general, lots of weather updates, more violence and a confusing cast of characters.