Book Review - Invisible Boy by Cornelia Read

Synopsis:  The smart-mouthed but sensitive runaway socialite Madeline Dare is shocked when she discovers the skeleton of a brutalized three-year-old boy in her own weed-ridden family cemetery outside Manhattan. Determined to see that justice is served to the perpetrators, Madeline finds herself examining her own troubled personal history, and the sometimes hidden, sometimes all-too-public class and racial warfare that penetrates every level of society in the savage streets of New York City during the early 1990s. She is aided in her efforts by a colorful assemblage of friends, relatives, and new acquaintances, each one representing a separate strand of the patchwork mosaic city politicians like to brag about. The result is a gripping narrative that relates the causes and consequences of a vicious crime to the wider relationships that connect and divide us all.

First Line:  "So here's what I love about New York City:  if someone acts like a dumb asshole and you call them on acting like a dumb asshole, the bystanders are happy about it."

Random Quote:  "The sounds outside seemed more distant:  rush of trains muted by the chapel's pale gold stone walls, mutter and hiss of the cops' radios unintelligible.  High stained-glass windows faced north and south, their intricately fitted cobalt and scarlet and butter-yellow panes interspersed with empty spots that laid bare the place-holding traceries of lead."

Review:  How did I miss this author before now?

I picked this up because I liked the cover and the plot sounded like it had potential.  It wasn't quite what I expected, but that's okay because it was really enjoyable.  Our intrepid heroine, Madeline Dare (what a great name) is a kind of Nora Charles sort of character - very classy and sassy.  I enjoyed her and her friends enormously.

Myrna Loy and William Powell as Nick and Nora Charles - Image by BooBooGBs via Flickr

The mystery at the center, the death of a small boy, isn't really a whodunit or a whydunit - it's more of a youknowwhodunitnowdealwithit.  Everyone here is pretty well fleshed out and the bad guys aren't quite the bad guys that they might be seem even though they're definitely bad guys.

It's fun to watch Madeline trying to sort out her life now that she's in a phase where she's married and away from school and working and figuring out who she is as an adult.  Her dilemmas are believable and her tragedies are very real.

Crisp snappy writing, good plotting, interesting characters.  I'm going to find the rest of Ms. Read's books!

Reading Challenges:  Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge 2010, 2010 100+ Reading Challenge, 2010 Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge