This is a book that deserves to go HUGE. Set against a backdrop of the facade of the suburban American Dream, this is the excellently plotted, twisty, story of 'what the heck happened here?' after a housewife disappears one afternoon, leaving her young children, and a blood-stained kitchen.
But it also takes in social history with a backdrop of racial tension, the rise of feminism (even West coast/East coast rivalries) which still resonate today.
The leads, 'fish out of water' New York cop who's relocated under a cloud, and the bright, ambitious Ruby, constrained by both her race and sex, are lovable, well-crafted and spring off the page fully formed, I found myself hissing everytime some truly loathsome characters appeared, and the sense of place, and time is incredibly well drawn.
This is an amazing debut novel by Inga Vesper - she is a force to be reckoned with, and I can't wait to read more by her.
But it also takes in social history with a backdrop of racial tension, the rise of feminism (even West coast/East coast rivalries) which still resonate today.
The leads, 'fish out of water' New York cop who's relocated under a cloud, and the bright, ambitious Ruby, constrained by both her race and sex, are lovable, well-crafted and spring off the page fully formed, I found myself hissing everytime some truly loathsome characters appeared, and the sense of place, and time is incredibly well drawn.
This is an amazing debut novel by Inga Vesper - she is a force to be reckoned with, and I can't wait to read more by her.