Publication Date: January 2017 from Diversion Books.
Source: Netgalley
One winter night in Boston, a man falls to his death in front of a subway train. The sole witness, a shaken young woman, explains to the police how the man pushed by her as he made his way to the tracks. But when her blog turns up in the dead man’s computer, the cops begin to look for other connections. Was the man a cyber-stalker, charmed to the point of desperation by the irreverent musings of a 20-something blogger? Or are the connections between subway jumper and innocent bystander more complicated?
Now I came to Fickle almost accidentally – the cover caught my eye during a random flyby on Netgalley and then the premise seemed intriguing. Still I nearly carried on past it but in the end impulse got me. Boy was that a stroke of luck because I LOVED this one. Cool, quirky, different and utterly compelling I engaged with every moment of it.
Clever novel. Clever. See Fickle is told via a blog. Well 2 blogs if you want to be exact but thats for you to discover. Basically you are reading a sequence of blog posts and the ensuing discussions. The main blog in question is a blog all about the wonder of Noir. One night our blogger tells the tale of her brush with death, the unfortunate unlucky coincidence of being present at a suicide. She reaches out to her small band of regulars and they all weigh in, showing concern and offering support. There it begins…
Things start to happen. Coincidences pile up. Every post that follows adds more layers to the tale but is our blogger an innocent bystander who has now been caught up in the vortex of things beyond her control or is she making the whole thing up to create her own style of noir or is she lying or WHAT THE HECK. And blimey as things unfold you will get more and more into it, you’ll wish to heck you could comment yourself, you’ll think you’ve got it then you won’t have it and its the twistiest tale I’ve read in ages. Also if you like Noir this whole thing is Noir tastic in both style and substance.
The writing is incredibly smart, it does read like a blog but also like episodic tv and each instalment leads you further down the rabbit hole. It won’t be for everyone I get that, but for me it was brilliantly executed, the nuances are nuanced to a high degree, in a lot of ways it is interpretative reading, you’ll take your own idea’s from it especially in relation to the ending.
Really really excellent in my opinion. Doing something a little different, pushing the boundaries somewhat within the crime and suspense genre, this is what I love about reading. Those little gems you discover randomly and fall for absolutely. This one I’m just going to say BOOM. Give me more from this author.
Highly Recommended.
Find out more via Diversion Books
To Purchase Fickle clickety click right HERE
Happy Reading!
