Julia Dahl's Invisible City
This was a really, really solid debut from a crime reporter--maybe because it's about a freelance reporter. :) Dahl definitely nails the details of the newspaper life. Anyway, our protagonist is 23-year-old Rebekah, who's investigating the murder of a Hasidic woman from the tight-knit community in Borough Park--the very community where the mother who abandoned her was born and raised. Dahl is a little bit over-explainy about the Hasidic lifestyle to someone who's familiar with it, but I imagine that's necessary for the readers who aren't. I really liked the tensions she raises of the technically-Jewish but clueless Rebekah examining/dealing with Hasidic Jews and thought that was very well-done too. And all that aside, the mystery is well crafted, the story moves quickly, and there are a lot of interesting things going on in general. It looks like Dahl is working on a sequel, and it's one I'll definitely be reading. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in May.
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