A review by ramseyhootman
Force of Habit by Alice Loweecey
3.0
Force of Habit is a crisp, tightly-written whodunnit with a unique protagonist. Giulia is a "failed" nun, having been out of the convent and essentially trying to make herself disappear for a year. At thirty years old, she has the mental habits of a 60 year old nun and the naivete of a 16 year old girl.
Interestingly, this book did not really come together for me until page 100 or so, when something horrible happens to Giulia. Prior to that, the characters just weren't really solid in my mind. But as soon as the critical moment occurred it was like BAM, everything came into focus. I think it might be because of Giulia's almost dual personality, mentioned above. She's a very interesting character, but hard to identify with because she is so different. I would have loved to have gotten even further into her head, though too much introspection probably would have pushed this book outside of genre lines.
I liked Giulia and sympathized with her, but I found myself wanting to slap her at times. After what her partner says to her at one point, I never would have spoken to the man again; I won't spoil anything here, but let's just say that her reaction is a little more passive. This is definitely a component of her character - her self-confidence is basically dead - but I almost wanted this book to end with her pistol-whipping all of the male characters and sauntering off into the sunset on her own.
The writing style is crisp and clean and very readable. Loweecey uses a lot of humor and banter between characters - but much of it was either lost on me or required a couple of readings to get. I don't think this has much to do with the author's style... I suck at humor, particularly one-liners and innuendo, and this seemed particularly geared toward the snappy dialogue one expects from a "hardboiled" mystery. (Is this hardboiled? I have no idea. Maybe?) So yeah, reader error.
Overall: a good solid read with a few hiccoughs at the beginning. I'll definitely pick up the next book to see whether Giulia gets the balls to dump her partner!
Interestingly, this book did not really come together for me until page 100 or so, when something horrible happens to Giulia. Prior to that, the characters just weren't really solid in my mind. But as soon as the critical moment occurred it was like BAM, everything came into focus. I think it might be because of Giulia's almost dual personality, mentioned above. She's a very interesting character, but hard to identify with because she is so different. I would have loved to have gotten even further into her head, though too much introspection probably would have pushed this book outside of genre lines.
I liked Giulia and sympathized with her, but I found myself wanting to slap her at times. After what her partner says to her at one point, I never would have spoken to the man again; I won't spoil anything here, but let's just say that her reaction is a little more passive. This is definitely a component of her character - her self-confidence is basically dead - but I almost wanted this book to end with her pistol-whipping all of the male characters and sauntering off into the sunset on her own.
The writing style is crisp and clean and very readable. Loweecey uses a lot of humor and banter between characters - but much of it was either lost on me or required a couple of readings to get. I don't think this has much to do with the author's style... I suck at humor, particularly one-liners and innuendo, and this seemed particularly geared toward the snappy dialogue one expects from a "hardboiled" mystery. (Is this hardboiled? I have no idea. Maybe?) So yeah, reader error.
Overall: a good solid read with a few hiccoughs at the beginning. I'll definitely pick up the next book to see whether Giulia gets the balls to dump her partner!