Cover Image: The Best Bad Things

The Best Bad Things

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Fun and compellingly readable, I found myself reaching for this book constantly for "just one more page". Reminded me of Amy Stewart's "Girl Waits With Gun" series, but the time period in which this is set adds an extra dimension.

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*Trigger Warning, book contains very explicit content and violence.* That being said I really enjoyed it. A vivd cast of characters, a strong decisive style, and a burning tension throughout make The Best Bad Things a book I can highly recommend.

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This is a story of opium smuggling in the late 19th Century that you wouldn't expect. It opens up the world of 150 years ago in a way that is both carefully researched and surprising to the modern reader.

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I received this book through NetGalley and its publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

The plot takes place in 1887 with a setting in Port Townsend. It is based on corruption of an opium smuggling ring in the Northwest. Many including prominent citizens and government officials were involved in the illegal activity. The book includes Pinkerton agents, murder, blackmail, conspiracy, and sexual scenes. The protagonist is a woman, Alma Rosales, who was part of disbanded Pinkerton’s Women’s Bureau and disguises herself as a man, Jack Camp. The book has many twists and turns.

It is an interesting story based on true times, but it was also hard to follow at times. The chapters bounce around in time and a chapter with a transcript of an interview with Samuel Reed regarding the murder of Sugar Calhoun but the reader doesn’t know who Sugar is until the end of the book. It isn’t until the end of the book that all the pieces come together but I thought it was hard to follow.

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Unfortunately, this book was not for me. It will definitely appeal to readers who like thrillers that include violence but for me it was not a good fit.

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In the Washington Territory in 1887, the opium business is booming. But it's also full of danger, unsavory characters, and intrigue. When Alma loses her job at a detective agency, she's hired by her ex-lover to go undercover as dockworker Jack Camp to find out who's interfering with the the supply chain.

I love, love, love Alma/Jack Camp as a protagonist. She's fearless, sexy, unpredictable, and tough as nails. And I really love reading historical fiction led by a queer woman who doesn't hate herself or her sexuality. Alma is wonderfully queer and unafraid to go after what she wants.

That being said, the plot was a little too twisty and turny for me, and I feel like I spent half the book looking back to figure out who was what and when and how. There was a lot going right for this book, and there were parts I definitely enjoyed, but I too often found myself lost and confused to really get into it.

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This bloody, thrilling, mysterious book left me breathless and wanting more. It’s unlike anything else, a remarkable and revelatory debut tackling the intersections of gender, violence, lust, greed, and power against the historical backdrop of late 19th century Washington State in the age of mining, shipping, and opium smuggling. This novel’s protagonist resists gender categorization although many will likely attempt to put Alma Rosales and Jack Camp into neat boxes. Don’t fall for it. Stay in the tension of Carrasco’s world and acknowledge the brilliant ways Port Townsend’s characters disrupt your assumptions about what a Western Historical Fiction novel should be, it will surely be made into a film. Read it with a friend before Hollywood interprets it for you. It promises a “book hangover” like no other!

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I have not heard of many books like this one. The Best Bad Things follows Alma, a detective who charades around as a man to get the job done. I thought that the premise of this book was rather interesting. I liked seeing a strong woman in an older setting. However, I expected this book to have a lot more mystery and intrigue than it did. All I really got from this book was the violent and fighting aspect of it, which is fine, but I just wanted to see more of the stuff behind the scenes. More of the plotting and planning. I don’t necessarily have a problem with all of the violence, but other people might and it can get boring at times.

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I was pleasantly surprised by Katrina Carrasco's <b>The Best Bad Things</b> which I picked up through NetGalley. I thought the premise behind this story was new and refreshing. Set in America's Gilded Age, <b>The Best Bad Things</b> illustrates how women were treated during that time, the juxtaposition of poverty with the onset of industrialization. Carrasco takes advantage of these happenings highlighting the building of the Railroad system and the opium epidemic within the context of the story. The main character Alma Rosales works as a detective. Her disguise is that of a man. She's taken on the persona of Jack Camp. As Camp , Alma is a spy, a detective and a tough as nails kick ass heroine. She has no problem using her sexual allure either as a male or as a female to get the job done. I hope that Carrasco's intention is to build a series around the character of Alma Rosales because I would certainly like to see more of her.

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Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me - I only made it to chapter 11. I usually enjoy historical fiction mixed with a little suspense but this particular setting didn't interest me. The writing is good and I think with the right audience, the book will be accepted with high ratings. It was just a little too violent for my taste.

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Its easy to dismiss some of the violent, gritty periods in history as the product of excess testosterone and insufficient civilization. But the story of the women who chose to dress as men, and swagger their way through the early part of the century defies that explanation.

Alma Rosales is a ruthless, ambitious ex-Pinkerton detective. She works as a man named Jack Camp. More than bisexual, Rosales/Camp seems to have no fixed sexual identity at all; she slips into either of her identities with ease. She has been brought into town to find a thief, and plans to leverage her work into a role in the thriving opium trade.

Set in the warehouses, boardinghouses, saloons and opium dens of Port Townsend, Washington in January 1887, Carrasco’s debut novel is full of the blood, sweat and tears of turn of the century America.
Carrasco clearly did all her research to gather her facts, but the details she uses to make her characters come to life are all literary talent.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Alma Rosales is a disgraced former Pinkerton's agent who turned her talents to smuggling after being dismissed from the detective agency. Her current mission: figure out who has been stealing opium from her boss's smuggling operation in Port Townsend, WA. If she can get to the bottom of it there is a big promotion in store for her. She goes undercover as a man to infiltrate the crew and solve the mystery, but faces distraction, betrayal, and the risk of exposure at every turn.
The summary description for The Best Bad Things piqued my interest right away, but I found the book did not really match the sense of it that I got from that description. It focused less on the mystery and more on physical fighting and sexual tension among the characters. At times it was difficult to keep track of everything and everyone because the novel skips back and forth in time. While there were interesting characters, the only one that really got any development was Alma. Despite that, it was still an interesting read and definitely a page-turner. Fans of antiheroines will enjoy cheering for Alma throughout her criminal endeavors.

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This historical thriller follows a chameleon-like woman around while she, trained by Pinkerton's Detective Agency but now working for the a drug smuggler, tries to hunt down stolen opium in the 1880s United States.

I will begin with the positive: this book is really powered by its characters. They are diverse, interesting and deep, and will surprise you. Protagonist Alma is particularly fascinating, as she plays with gender and slips into different roles effortlessly, adapting her stance, manners, facial expression and speech with careful attention to detail. She uses others' expectations of gender to gain what she needs from them. In addition to that, she can kick some serious ass and also has a healthy love life. I was overthinking whether it would be okay to call her trans* (she does, for example, get angry about being called her female name) and what to label her relationships (both men and women want to have sex with her while she is dressed as and behaves like a man), but decided that was not necessary: such labels would not have existed in her time and she slips between both genders rather than wishing to be male - and it is not important for the story anyway. Besides the great characters and their interesting dynamics with one another, I also loved the colorful descriptions and atmospheric style of the narration.

However, that was the only thing that pulled me through. Other than that, I found the novel mostly confusing. There are at least three different stories Alma pretends to be true and goals she tries to reach for her various employers. That gets tediously confusing, especially since the main players and their agenda are not made very clear. Therefore, in any given scene, the characters' goals and the things at stake remain a mystery. It is difficult to root for anyone or realize what certain outcomes mean for the rest of the story. It does not help that some events just happen, without preparatory planning or talking about them afterwards. The time line is rather jumpy - and the second narrative strand is very weird. It was probably supposed to raise tension, but did not make sense until page 302 out of 354. My patience had run out long before that.

The characters and descriptions made me continue reading this, as I was constantly hoping the narration would get better, and was actually invested in, at least, Alma's story. But it was a near dnf for me, so I can only give 2.5 stars.

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This book was not my cup of tea. It starts off fast but slows down quickly. Alma Rosales is a shamed Pinkerton, detective who was fired for not following orders. She is gender fluid and sometimes is disguised as Jack Camp. She works for her former lover Delphine who smuggles opium. Alma is hired to find out who is stealing from her. There are a lot of characters and it is hard to keep up with who is who.. There is lots of gore, violence and sex. This is not for the faint of heart.
Thank you Net Galley for letting me read this for writing a review.

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This was a hard read for me. The premise seemed very promising. However, it was not well-written. There were many violent scenes that made uncomfortable. The characters were flat, and had very little depth to them.

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This one is not for the faint of heart. It’s an extremely gritty and graphic crime novel set in the 1880’s and featuring a gender fluid main character. There’s copious sex and violence and a complex mystery regarding organized crime and the theft of opium. I have to admit that after the first few chapters I thought it might be too intense for me and considered giving up. I’m no prude and usually not too disturbed by violence but this was pretty extreme and I wasn’t sure it was going to be for me. I’m so glad I continued because I ended up loving it! I read a fair bit of historical fiction and this one stood out, not just for its brutality and carnality but also for its ability to put me right in the scenes with the characters, often an unpleasant place indeed! The story was incredibly detailed and well-written but the writing was very dense so it took me longer than usual to chew my way through. The plot was complex and it took some thought to keep all the characters and their allegiances straight. This was not a quick and easy read but in the end I was rewarded by a tremendously compelling story, vivid scenes and characters that felt like real people. No one was entirely good or bad and that was strangely appealing.

Alma for the most part seemed uncomfortable playing the role of a woman and with the limited freedoms available to most women at this time it’s no surprise that it was a lot easier for Alma to wear a man’s clothes and take the role of Jack. This allowed her to do her job as a detective and to infiltrate the opium rings. She could switch back and forth as the situation required. She did seem very comfortable as a man but I’m not sure if this is because she wants to be a man or if she just finds it expedient for her purposes. Either way, she was a fascinating character and seeing how she could change her body, posture and mannerisms to suit her chosen character was pretty darn incredible. Although dealing with a completely different subject matter it kind of reminded me of the TV show “Orphan Black” in which one actress, Tatiana Maslany, plays the vast majority of characters. That type of chameleon quality is exactly how I envision Alma.

The ending wasn’t entirely shocking as I suspected it might be the only possible conclusion but it sure was breathtaking and a complete punch in the gut (and the heart.) This is truly one of the best historical fiction books I have read. It’s a crime novel, a vivid depiction of a particular time and place, and an exploration of gender and identity all wrapped into an entertaining story. Highly recommended!

Thank you Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

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This book initially looked like something I would enjoy. However as I started reading it I was confused and thought the date transitions were not helpful. It was not until at least 3/4 or more along that the disparate parts started to come together for me. The characters were fully developed although the main character is confusing and switches genders throughout the book. This story is full of sexual innuendo and brutal sex scenes, both implied and detailed. I finished this book and at the end decided it wasn’t really for me after all-the entire thing is just slightly unsettling for some reason on many levels. Thank you to #netgalley for the chance to read #thebestbadthings

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I didn't quite finish this book. But what I've read, I have greatly enjoyed. I will say, it's not for everyone. The writing is dense, but beautiful. I think it's a great first novel.

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Who knew that sleepy Port Townsend could ever have been so exciting? This was compelling reading and I never considered putting it down, but this is a brutal book. There is a lot of sex, a lot of violence, and a lot of mixing of the two. If any of that bothers you, consider this a warning. The ending left a bad taste in my mouth and I'm still struggling with my overall rating for this. Very interesting heroine, but not sure that I would read another. On the other hand, it looks like a next book would be set in Tacoma (my hometown), so maybe.

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Port Townsend, Washington Territory, 1887. Alma has been working undercover for the Pinkerton Agency until she is dismissed for not following orders. As her alter ego, Jack Camp, she is able to infiltrate places no woman can go. In her manly disguise, she works as a dockworker looking for a shipment of opium. Only now she works for Delphine, a woman that Alma is also having an affair with. Since she is bisexual, Delphine is not her only lover. After infiltrating a local gang and looking for a promotion, she is risking everything. I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I didn't think Alma was believable as a spy. I liked Nathaniel Wheeler most of any of the other characters. It is written in a time where women were limited in what they could do. Being part of Pinkerton was something special. I received this book from Net Galley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for a honest review and no compensation otherwise.The opinions expressed are my own.

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