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Cass, now a person of interest in two different murder investigations from the prior two books, flees to London. Unsurprisingly, she promptly gets roped into being a courier for a dealer... she assumes of drugs, but what she delivers is much odder, an ancient artifact which suggests that very early people understood some of the concepts behind moving pictures. Murder and an investigation into a cult movie from the 60s ensues.
This was my favorite Cass book. It's beautifully thematically integrated, with all the plot lines involving images: photos, movies, or the thaumatrope, an ancient spinning disc with two carved sides. It's extremely dark as usual, but this time there's a counterbalance in the form of Sam, a teenager raised by horrible cultists who is what we'd probably call genderqueer and in whom Cass recognizes both a kindred spirit and someone she might be able to actually help.
Everything involving the creepy movie (which might literally be evil) and the shadows of the past, both the recent past of the 60s and the ancient past still present in the form of artifacts, ruins, and bones, was very evocative. The way it was all woven together was extremely well-done.
Spoilers! ( Read more... )
This would make a good paired reading with Gemma Files' Experimental Film, which also involves a middle-aged woman investigating a creepy movie.
Inexplicably, only books one and four in the Cass Neary series are available on Kindle. The link goes to the hardcover. Isn't the cover great?
This was my favorite Cass book. It's beautifully thematically integrated, with all the plot lines involving images: photos, movies, or the thaumatrope, an ancient spinning disc with two carved sides. It's extremely dark as usual, but this time there's a counterbalance in the form of Sam, a teenager raised by horrible cultists who is what we'd probably call genderqueer and in whom Cass recognizes both a kindred spirit and someone she might be able to actually help.
Everything involving the creepy movie (which might literally be evil) and the shadows of the past, both the recent past of the 60s and the ancient past still present in the form of artifacts, ruins, and bones, was very evocative. The way it was all woven together was extremely well-done.
Spoilers! ( Read more... )
This would make a good paired reading with Gemma Files' Experimental Film, which also involves a middle-aged woman investigating a creepy movie.
Inexplicably, only books one and four in the Cass Neary series are available on Kindle. The link goes to the hardcover. Isn't the cover great?
