Member Review
Review by
Emily S, Reviewer
Thanks to Tin House Books (the publisher of this novel) for providing me with an ARC copy for an honest review.
Slow Burn. Seriously. It’s slow. That snail in your garden? A speedy comparison to this.
So why did I rate it 4 (3.5) stars? Because, a thriller and suspenseful spy novel it’s not. But an interesting look into spy occupation and LGBT+ lives in the 50s/60s? It really is.
Seriously, I was never sure what to think of this book. I went in expecting a Bosch esque spy thriller and ended up with a fairly vivid account of lgbt+ life and a girl who for a long time got nothing right in a life that wasn’t going her way. And I loved it. I loved that she was so normal, and that we got to see into her background, but I couldn’t quite shake the feeling of this isn’t what I was expecting - at all - from the blurb.
If you love suspenseful spy novels, this probably isn’t for you. However if you like slower plot lines, with a historical depth, this may well be the book for you. It’s certainly an intriguing read for LGBT+ folk, and as a queer gal myself, I really enjoyed reading a plot so far from the normal tropes of lgbt+ story lines.
Slow Burn. Seriously. It’s slow. That snail in your garden? A speedy comparison to this.
So why did I rate it 4 (3.5) stars? Because, a thriller and suspenseful spy novel it’s not. But an interesting look into spy occupation and LGBT+ lives in the 50s/60s? It really is.
Seriously, I was never sure what to think of this book. I went in expecting a Bosch esque spy thriller and ended up with a fairly vivid account of lgbt+ life and a girl who for a long time got nothing right in a life that wasn’t going her way. And I loved it. I loved that she was so normal, and that we got to see into her background, but I couldn’t quite shake the feeling of this isn’t what I was expecting - at all - from the blurb.
If you love suspenseful spy novels, this probably isn’t for you. However if you like slower plot lines, with a historical depth, this may well be the book for you. It’s certainly an intriguing read for LGBT+ folk, and as a queer gal myself, I really enjoyed reading a plot so far from the normal tropes of lgbt+ story lines.
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