Tuesday, June 25, 2013

BOOK REVIEW: Good Girl. Bad Girl by Christopher Finch


Good Girl, Bad Girl by Christopher Finch

Expected publication: August 6th 2013 by Thomas & Mercer

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Good Girl, Bad GirlThat was a tough year to be a New Yorker. The city was so broke there was a rumor going around that the mayor had been spotted on the Bowery, cleaning windshields at stoplights in the hope of scoring a nickel, or maybe a nickel bag. It's 1968, New York City is in a state of mayhem, and private eye Alex Novalis is flat broke. So he accepts a mundane missing persons gig from wealthy construction mogul Gabriel Kravitz, whose eighteen-year-old daughter, Lydia, has disappeared. The only lead is that Lydia had been sleeping with Jerry Pedrosian, a radical artist and known womanizer. But there are few clues, and everyone in Lydia's life seems to be hiding something, including her mini-skirted best friend, Andrea Marshall, who Novalis is inconveniently attracted to. And as he traverses the city from scummy artists’ lofts in pre-gentrified SoHo to luxury penthouses overlooking Central Park. He’ll face more danger than he signed on for. A coolly sophisticated detective story and portrait of late 1960s New York City, Good Girl, Bad Girl offers a glimpse at the forbidden sex, politics, art, drugs, and counterculture violence that ran rampant in its once gloriously gritty streets.







This was me second NetGalley read. And so far I am impressed with the selections I have been given the privileged to read.
From the very first page I was intrigued, the description of New York City was spectacular.  I only wish the car in the description used to describe the setting was used for the rest of the book.  Finch did get you into the characters making you want to read more and to see who exactly Novalis is and what Lydia – among others - was hiding.
The book is written in a classic film noir style, and I admit I never read any type of book like this one. And constantly while reading it I was catching myself reading in a  dark, musky , detective voice. You know, Dick Tracy like. (ActuallyI cannot remember Dick Tracy, but ya know… it was the first thing to pop into my mind) So, that was fun. The mystery of the plot was enticing and the twists came at the right time.
I gave it 3.5 stars. It almost made it to 4 stars, but I just couldn’t do it. Something about the ending just didn’t’ sit well with me. It was a great read and I recommend it to people to definitely read when it comes out, it just wasn’t  an ohmygod, will read again type book.

 Thank you for letting me read an advance copy for an honest review of the book.

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