audreylee's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Claire Dewitt isn't a sassy, fun-loving, wise-cracking detective. She is a cynical, hard-boiled, vice-ridden mess with a superb track record of solving mysteries and a dark history. Now she finds herself in a post-Katrina New Orleans. A place where happily ever after just doesn't happen. This is quite a strange mystery within a mystery with a floating time line and shifting plot.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault
nick_jenkins's review against another edition
4.0
Definitely intrigued by the protagonist, but the mystery is lackluster. The book Claire is obsessed with reads like a blend of Rust Cole from True Detective and Raymond Chandler—a little bit stoner, a little bit hard-boiled.
luannocracy's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
msmattoon's review
4.0
Loved this book. The protagonist is complicated and kind of a mess, but fascinating and I want to read more.
sjj169's review
3.0
Claire DeWitt is probably one of the most unique characters I've ever read in a mystery book. She has a "bible" that she goes by written by her idol French detective Jacques Silette, she doesn't mind using a few drugs to enhance her abilities, and she believes she is the world's greatest detective.
Several of those very qualities got on my nerves at times during the book.
Lord, forgive my sins, of which there are too fucking many to count.
Then there were times I liked her. She fully admits her troubles and does not mind if people think she is bat shit crazy.
New Orleans after the storm...
A respected DA goes missing and his nephew hires Claire to find out what happened to him. He went missing a few days after Katrina hit and no one wants to talk about what happened to him.
New Orleans is really the star of this book. That mystical city is showcased here in a way that most books just don't begin to touch on.
It's a haunting book that's not fast paced but rather streams along and pushes you to think about the why's and why not's of a person's disappearance.
Several of those very qualities got on my nerves at times during the book.
Lord, forgive my sins, of which there are too fucking many to count.
Then there were times I liked her. She fully admits her troubles and does not mind if people think she is bat shit crazy.
New Orleans after the storm...
A respected DA goes missing and his nephew hires Claire to find out what happened to him. He went missing a few days after Katrina hit and no one wants to talk about what happened to him.
"The client already knows the solution to his mystery. But he doesn't want to know. He doesn't hire a detective to solve his mystery. He hires a detective to prove that his mystery can't be solved."
New Orleans is really the star of this book. That mystical city is showcased here in a way that most books just don't begin to touch on.
It's a haunting book that's not fast paced but rather streams along and pushes you to think about the why's and why not's of a person's disappearance.
drlark's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.5
The self-described Best PI In the World travels to New Orleans where she once lived and trained to investigate the disappearance of a prominent DA during Hurricane Katrina. The book is set about 18 months after the storm and features a New Orleans that hasn't really begun to recover. The writing is lovely, as I expected from Sara Gran, but I have to say, the rest did not live up to my expectations. I'm not a connoisseur of the PI novel, but there were elements of the mystery that I struggled to follow. A fair amount seemed to fall into place by chance. (Which I think is maybe part of Claire's "method" but I'm not sure.) Also, the racial dynamics of the story made me uneasy. Too much exploitation of Black suffering with only white protagonists. Andray Fairview is a great character, but unless he continues to have a role in the series, to continue to grow and develop as a character, I think he falls too neatly into a stereotype for our white heroine to save.
That said, I enjoyed Claire as a character and the twists and turns of the storytelling, so I will probably pick up book 2 to at least give it a chance.
That said, I enjoyed Claire as a character and the twists and turns of the storytelling, so I will probably pick up book 2 to at least give it a chance.
trudilibrarian's review
5.0
How do I love a book? Let me count the ways.
1. Setting: Post-Katrina New Orleans. Swampy, sensual, tragic, dangerous. A complete immersion into the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of a damaged and depressed city, betrayed and forgotten, seeking its redemption.
2. Heroine: Kick-ass, ruthless, complicated, haunted. Claire DeWitt is much like the city of New Orleans itself: damaged and dangerous, tragic and seeking redemption. Neither needs nor desires your pity or understanding.
3. Language: Hard-boiled dialogue that snaps and shows its teeth, married with gorgeous turns of phrase and a robust philosophy about the very nature of solving mysteries.
The client already knows the solution to his mystery. But he doesn't want to know. He doesn't hire a detective to solve his mystery. He hires a detective to prove that his mystery can't be solved.4. Mystery: I don't read a lot of "mysteries" where there is a genuine, bona fide puzzle to be solved. I'm not a clue junkie hoarding each item the author throws down in an effort to beat him or her to the big reveal. Here, I really felt compelled to sit up straight and pay attention. It didn't take very long before I became incredibly invested in Claire's investigation and its outcome, no mere detached observer but something akin to an actual participant.
Despite the fact that Claire's methods are anything but conventional -- bordering on mystical and clairvoyant -- the investigation remains firmly grounded in reality and logic. I adore how everything comes together in a satisfying "click" "snap" "lock" way that isn't pretty and predictable, but all the more beautiful for that very reason.
Finally, I can't do this book justice on my own so I'm going to call in the big guns. Without these two reviews I don't think I ever would have found my way to Claire. Take it away Carol and Anthony.
lorimichelekelley's review against another edition
4.0
I tend to like fiction about messed up people who just keep keepin' on. Claire DeWitt does just that. And she does it with such moxie! I didn't always like her, but that's what makes her an authentic character. The audible book is read by Carol Monda, and she's the perfect voice for Claire!
ielerol's review
I truly don't know how I feel about this book. It's well-written and well-constructed, Claire is an asshole but an interesting kind of an asshole. But, I'm not much of a mystery reader, and this book feels like it is very written For Mystery Fans. All the quotes from Détection are mystical bullshit about the profundity of mysteries and detection, and they have the shape of something that should be meaningful but then I start asking like, ok, how does this translate into actually working as a detective? How does it help you actually accomplish anything? And it doesn't, because it doesn't actually mean anything. Certainly Claire never seems to concretely take an action based on it, beyond, I guess, ignore all the standard procedures a normal investigator would take in favor of wandering around and taking drugs with strangers. And maybe if I thought there was something profound and mystical about Mysteries as a concept, I would care? But I don't. A mystery is just information you don't know, and then maybe you learn something new, and then you know. This is an extremely ordinary experience. I solve the Case of Where Did I Put My Coffee Mug at least once a week.
Basically I feel the same way about Silette as I do about the I Ching, which Claire also consults regularly. It's not information, it's just a prompt you could use to think about the information you already know in a different way. Which is fine, probably, I just think the I Ching is a little more honest about it, in addition to being a real thing with a lot of actually interesting cultural context and history.
The other thing that makes me uneasy is the portrayal of New Orleans. I mean, obviously Hurricane Katrina was devastating, and New Orleans does have a lot of poverty, and a lot of suffering. As far as I know, the things the book says about crime there are true. And all things considered, the portrayals of the poor residents of New Orleans in this book are fairly sympathetic. I just...felt uneasy about the singular focus on crime and poverty, as if those are the only things worth knowing about it. There was maybe an attempt to show a little more of the city with the musicians and Mardi Gras krewes, but that's only slightly better, because like, Mardi Gras is pretty much the only thing people already know about New Orleans anyway. Also, at one point Claire looks at one of the traumatized, struggling young men she interacts with, and thinks about what his life could have been like if he had been born "anywhere else" and I thought, what? Excuse me? Is there a city in the US that doesn't profoundly fail its Black children? Sure, there are probably places where you have a better shot at success if you're born middle class and Black, and a few places where you have a better chance of being born middle class and Black in the first place, but I promise that being poor and Black and suffering in the foster care system is not remotely unique to New Orleans. Perhaps I would just rather see the city through the eyes of someone who seemed to hate it (and herself) a bit less.
Basically I feel the same way about Silette as I do about the I Ching, which Claire also consults regularly. It's not information, it's just a prompt you could use to think about the information you already know in a different way. Which is fine, probably, I just think the I Ching is a little more honest about it, in addition to being a real thing with a lot of actually interesting cultural context and history.
The other thing that makes me uneasy is the portrayal of New Orleans. I mean, obviously Hurricane Katrina was devastating, and New Orleans does have a lot of poverty, and a lot of suffering. As far as I know, the things the book says about crime there are true. And all things considered, the portrayals of the poor residents of New Orleans in this book are fairly sympathetic. I just...felt uneasy about the singular focus on crime and poverty, as if those are the only things worth knowing about it. There was maybe an attempt to show a little more of the city with the musicians and Mardi Gras krewes, but that's only slightly better, because like, Mardi Gras is pretty much the only thing people already know about New Orleans anyway. Also, at one point Claire looks at one of the traumatized, struggling young men she interacts with, and thinks about what his life could have been like if he had been born "anywhere else" and I thought, what? Excuse me? Is there a city in the US that doesn't profoundly fail its Black children? Sure, there are probably places where you have a better shot at success if you're born middle class and Black, and a few places where you have a better chance of being born middle class and Black in the first place, but I promise that being poor and Black and suffering in the foster care system is not remotely unique to New Orleans. Perhaps I would just rather see the city through the eyes of someone who seemed to hate it (and herself) a bit less.