Fabulous Fiction Firsts #845, Odd Jobs
by muffy
Odd adj. strange or unexpected (OED)
Five-Star Stranger * * by Kat Tang (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) is a “moving and offbeat debut.” (Publishers Weekly)
For a decade our unnamed narrator offers his services on the Rent-a-Stranger app., ever so conscious of maintaining his hard-earned 5-star rating. He has been hired as a pretend fiance, a mourner at a funeral, as a drugged out brother to an aspiring writer looking for authenticity. But the most important and emotionally engaging gig for the past 8 years had been to pose as 10 year-old Lily’s father, as a long-distance truck driver in town once a week to spend time with her.
As Lily grows more inquisitive of her “father” and the family he never mentions, our stranger breaks the strict rules of maintaining a professional distance from his clients and puts his career in jeopardy. His backstory also slowly emerges - of a childhood interrupted by a cross-country move, a single mother who committed suicide in his teens, shedding light on his needs to be love and be loved.
“Provocative, self-assured…Tang plays deftly with the conventions of romantic comedy, tempting the reader to long for the promise of happy endings and then throwing cold water on those hopes and embedding sharp ethical dilemmas in a cocoon of diverting dialogue. A smart look at people-pleasing taken to its illogical extreme.” (Kirkus Reviews)
Wordhunter * the debut novel by true-crime author Stella Sands (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) is a gritty buddy-cop mystery that pairs two unlikely individuals.
21 year-old, tattooed, pierced, hard-drinking, motorcycle-riding Maggie Moore, raised in ”the poverty-stricken armpit of rural central Florida", is a graduate student in forensic linguistics, a savant who has the uncanny ability to analyze words and speech patterns. Recommended by her professor, she successfully deciphers notes left by a stalker-turned-rapist to help the local police in identifying the pert.
When Heidi, the young daughter of the mayor in the near-by town has been kidnapped, the Police Chief is eager to get Maggie involved. Paired with Silas Jackson, the gruff, seasoned detective who harbors his own secrets, the duo begin to analyze the texts, emails, and verbal tics of various suspects. The case triggers traumatic memories for Maggie whose best friend Lucy Tidwell went missing 7 years ago.
“The more Maggie and Jackson dig, the more they worry that the culprit might be too powerful to touch--and that they've unwittingly affixed targets to their own backs. Sands nails the genius investigator formula on her first try, spinning Maggie into a memorable heroine and handing her an enthralling first case. This transfixes from the first page. “ (Publishers Weekly)
** = 2 Starred Reviews
*= Starred Review
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