by Sara Gran
1950s, New York City, light ages before the famous ‘no tolerance’ policy of Mayor Giuliani. Josephine Flannigan, 36, tries to make her living as a former heroin addict. She is a skilled con artist, a shrewd shoplifter and, generally, whatever anybody wants her to be providing they pay cash. She doe...
Sara Gran is becoming one of my favorite writers, and this little gem is my favorite of her books so far. It was close enough to perfect that I rounded it up to 5 stars despite finding the ending a little abrupt and confusing. I think I sorted out the details, but I had to stop and think it through ...
After reading Sara Gran’s Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead--a smart, alternative noir mystery--I was left craving for more. Dope, an earlier novel with some of the same gritty vibe, is set in the petty thieving underworld of 1950’s New York, a place that in no way resembles anything from Happ...
A 30-something former addict is hired by a wealthy couple to find their college-age junkie daughter in 1950's New York City.This is certainly a page-turner. The original mystery becomes more complex, with various twists and turns in the plot. There's something happening almost constantly. The protag...
More like 2 1/2 stars. This starts promising but fizzles in the end even with the surprise ending. The 50's New York is well done, so is the drug scene. The problem is more one of character motivation and a weak lead character. Not every character can be pull off a Philip Marlowe. Josephine doesn't...
Hammett-style hardboiled noir about a former dope fiend trying to go straight, looking for a Barnard co-ed (it's set in the 50s, Gran can call her a co-ed) whose parents say she got lost in the drug underworld. Female take on classic noir tropes (female heroine; twists on the femmes who are fatale)...
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