Book Review: Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz

Trail of the Spellmans
Lisa Lutz
Simon and Schuster, February 2012
Source: Free review copy provided by publisher
Buy if from Amazon.com: Trail of the Spellmans: Document #5


At age 34, Isabel Spellman is the best PI at Spellman Investigations, but the family-run business only has four employees, so that might be nothing to brag about. The Spellmans have a fairly full case load, lately--a man named Adam Cooper hires Isabel to follow his sister, a woman named Margaret Slayter employs them to keep tabs on her husband, and the concerned parents of a bright college freshman named Vivien Blake add to the client list. But between bouts of trailing after all her clients, Isabel notices several problems a lot closer to home: her mom has taken up a half dozen new and baffling hobbies, her brother and sister are at odds for unknown reasons, and there's tension between Isabel and her boyfriend, Henry. What's a girl to do when her unconventional professional life is actually much more normal than the wackiness going on at home?


I really liked the humor in Trail of the Spellmans. There's a nice vein of funniness running all through the book, such as the fact that Isabel, her dad, and her sister are occasionally referred to by their new code names of The Gopher, The Tortoise, and The Weasel. Isabel is having to do a lot of this hokey work-related stuff because, as Rae explains it: "[Dad] thinks if we add a layer of cinematic intrigue to our client meetings--code phrases, exotic locales--we could charge more." (pg 14). This is exactly my brand of quirkiness, and I like the self-awareness of Lisa Lutz' writing because several characters mention that certain possibilities are ludicrous because those things only happen in detective novels. So cool.

Another great thing about the world of the story is the offbeat personal details like how Isabel talks about her older brother David as if he's been two different people--"Old David," the handsome, sharklike opportunist, and "New David," the sloppy daddy who constantly totes around his adorable toddler daughter. I also like how Isabel refers to her current boyfriend Henry Stone as "Ex-boyfriend #13," in negative anticipation of breaking up eventually.

Isabel is a sharp woman, and even though ten minor mysteries are always circulating around her, she eventually puts all the facts together. Whether it's figuring out why one client is having her super-dull and normal husband followed, wondering why big brother David kicked kid sister Rae out of his house, or deciding how to deal with her boyfriend's mom, Isabel is more than capable of ferreting out answers.

Rather than having a tight, action-based plot, Trail of the Spellmans progresses more like a series of daily vignettes that eventually add up to a great story when viewed back to back. It's not a type of narrative progression that I'm used to, but man, do I ever like it! I had heard of the series before, but now I'm kicking myself for not reading it sooner. This stuff is comic gold, and makes for ideal light reading. Grade: A-


Is anyone else a fan of Isabel and the Spellmans? Did you like this book as well as the previous books? I'm thinking I need to read the backlist, here.

Book Review: Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz Link Free Download

Book Review: Timepiece (Hourglass #2) by Myra McEntire

Timepiece
Myra McEntire
Egmont, June 2012
Source: Borrowed from my friend Karen at FWIW Reviews
Buy it from Amazon.com: Timepiece: An Hourglass Novel

This review contains spoilers about the romance in Timepiece, but no plot spoilers.

Kaleb's life is a teensy bit complicated. As he puts it, "my dad had recently come back from the dead, my mom was in a coma, and an entire battalion of Civil War soldiers had appeared on my front porch that very afternoon" (pg 3). Kaleb is friends with Emerson Cole, the female protagonist of the first book in the series, Hourglass, and though Kaleb has some barely-buried feelings for her, he knows that she's better off with his best friend Michael. Emerson and Michael are genuinely worried about Kaleb's tendency to solve all his (admittedly serious) issues by using alcohol, because their collective problems related to time-travel are only getting worse. Their world is turned upside down with the return of Jack Landers, the man who once killed Kaleb's father. After Jack's reappearance, a dangerous guy named Poe delivers an ominous message: the Hourglass organization must find Jack Landers or everyone will suffer dire consequences.

There's so much to like about this book, and I'm doing my utmost to avoid spoilers, other than those related to the romance, so here we go!

I love seeing guy-POV, especially in YA, and it's even better if the guy in question genuinely sounds male and not like what girls would like to think that guys sound like. And Kaleb's definitely a dude. He's a womanizer with both a soft side and a mean streak. Sometimes his flirting is pure instinct, but sometimes it's done to keep his heart of gold from showing, or even to keep his intense temper from flaring. Kaleb can sense others' emotions and his empathic abilities make him even more volatile, but he's not quite a loose canon because he genuinely worries about others and has a lot of surprisingly gentlemanly tendencies. How could anyone not love this character?

Kaleb's got a lot of growing to do, and it's great to watch him on his personal journey. I particularly like his relationship with his parents, because he's incredibly close to his mother, who may never wake up from her coma. Kaleb also loves his dad, but they aren't 100% communicative with each other. Kaleb feels doubly upset at his buddy Michael because not only did Michael got Emerson, Kaleb also thinks his own dad would prefer to have the upstanding Michael as his son. He partly gets this idea because Liam Ballard treats Michael like an adult and treats Kaleb like a kid who needs protecting. These sorts of loving, intensely complicated family relationships make any book more interesting, in my opinion.

As for the romance, it's just as compelling as Michael and Em's connection in book one, if not more so. Emerson's best friend Lily walks into Kaleb's life because she has the supernatural ability to find objects, and now the Hourglass organization needs her to find a time-travelling person--Jack. Lily is smart, talented, sassy, and I love her interaction with Kaleb. Lily's just the kind of straightforward, no-nonsense girl who can help a guy like Kaleb see past his own issues and focus on the big picture. And besides all that, they're just really a dreamy couple.

Downsides: The technicalities and specifics of time travel went a little over my head. I don't want to be the kind of reader that authors have to dumb down their story for, but on occasion it was tough to keep with all the rules of how rips, veils, travel genes, and exotic matter worked.

Overall, Timepiece is a great and emotionally moving follow-up to the stunning debut book that was Hourglass. I had my doubts about how well switching POVs would work for the series, but it ends up being a delightful way to give us readers a look at Kaleb's world, which everyone wanted to see. I highly recommend this novel. Grade: A-


Question for everyone: Have you read Hourglass? Are you as big a fan of Myra as I am? :-) What do you think of timeslip/time travel YA in general?

Book Review: Timepiece (Hourglass #2) by Myra McEntire Link Free Download