Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Straight 'Dope' from Sara Gran

Review of DOPE (Penguin Group 2006)
Author, Sara Gran

The best stories are the kind that linger in your mind long after you've finished them. For me, DOPE by Sara Gran was that kind of story.

Josephine "Joe" Flannigan is just the girl next door--if you happen to live in Hell's Kitchen, that is. Joe grew up there under the not-so-watchful eye of a single mother, so it was up to Joe to look after herself and her kid sister, Shelley. Both girls end up falling in with the wrong crowd and getting addicted to heroin, but pulling themselves out of "the life" in very different ways. When the story begins, it's 1950 and Joe is making a living picking pockets and "boosting" (to use the parlance of that time) jewelry and other valuables from stores. Shelley has become a successful model and aspiring actress.

When a suburban couple hires Joe to find their wayward daughter in the streets from which she came, it looks like easy money. But the investigation turns out to be a lot more complicated than she expects. And the further Joe delves into the matter, the more trouble she unwittingly creates for herself.

Apparently, this is Gran's first foray into noir writing. For my money, she gets it all just right. I love the 1950s setting (back when men wore hats and women wore gloves). There's even a mention of the Automat, which took this reader down memory lane. (Not all the way back to 1950, mind you, but I do remember Horn & Hardart.) I hope Gran will consider writing more crime fiction, especially hardboiled or noir--we can always use more female authors in that genre.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Pageviews Last 30 Days

Followers