I will confess, Jocelyn Green has always been a hit or miss writer for my personal taste. So I was thrilled to find myself on the edge of my seat as Green takes readers back to Prohibition era NYC.
Leading this tale is Dr. Lauren Westlake, the assistant curator of the Met's Egyptology department. I mean, there was so much I liked about Lauren, she's a smart and capable scholar, a caring and attentive friend, and yet Green writes her longing for family and stability with such vulnerability to make her feel relatable and well-rounded.
As usual, Green does deliver a strong and complex storyline. The Egyptology/art forgery storyline is utterly fascinating. Green's descriptions of key signs for forgeries, her ability to convey the excitement and dismay of Lauren as items were confirmed or found short really helped to engage the story as I was relatively clueless on the subject before this book.
I also appreciated Lauren's more personal storyline centering on the theme of her family both with her strained relationship with her father as well as her reconnection with detective Joe Caravello. Green does such an excellent job capturing that alternating hope and pain that can be present with childhood trauma.
With Green's attention to detail and ability to capture the feel of her settings there are definitely times this novel feels like a written film noir. Joe's plotlines with police corruption, prohibition, and murder have that grittier feel with Green's detailed world building.
Readers looking for a clean, happy ending will probably find themselves a little disappointed by the ending. While Green wraps up the story beautifully there's definitely not the "storybook happy ending" for all the plot threads that readers may expect from this publisher. However, I think Green made the best choice for her story as anything else would have felt hollow to the characters she has created and the realities of their tale.
4 out of 5 stars
Book was provided courtesy of Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. and Baker Publishing Group.
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