She’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, and suicides.
But when Miriam hitches a ride with Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be murdered while he calls her name. Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim.
No matter what she does she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try.
First Line: Car lights strobed through busted motel blinds.
Random Quote: Waffle House, a staple of the American South, is essentially a greasy yellow coffin. It's small. It's boxy. Half the people inside are little more than animated corpses, stuffing their mouths full of hash browns and sausages, and the requisite waffles, their bodies bloating and swelling, their hearts dying. Miriam thinks its awesome. She eats here because it's just one more nail in the ol' pine box; she can hear her arteries clogging, crunchy and crispy like the skin on fried chicken.
The irony, she thinks, is that you can't smoke in here anymore. Now only the Waffle House waitress is the approved death merchant.
Review: I'm typically pretty dubious of most urban fantasy that is written these days. I miss the really good stuff - Emma Bull, Charles de Lint, early Anita Blake novels - back before stuff started sparkling that really shouldn't and high school chicks started laying themselves out like prey at the feast. But honestly, I loved the cover on this so I thought - "what the hell."
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| Waffle House (image source) |
I'm so glad I did. Miriam is an amazing character - damaged, tough, a survivor. I can't imagine what it would be like to know the death of anyone you touch, but Miriam has this skill. It's helped her survive, but it's also led down an endless path of highways, motels, truck tops, and Waffle Houses. Stealing where she can, hitchhiking, running from the world.
And then there's Louis Darling and everything changes - because this time Miriam wants to change the outcome and that will require a new way of living, of thinking, of making choices, and of taking action. This book is a roller coaster on the seamy side of America's highway system. I loved it and can't wait for Mockingbird - the upcoming sequel.
FTC Disclosure: Advance copy for review from the publisher via NetGalley
Publishing Information: Angry Robot - April 24, 2012
Format: Kindle
Rating: ★★★★★
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