unique and fitting , especially enmeshed with the Mia Loberti ’ s advanced degree in ancient rhetoric from Royal Holloway , University of London . You ’ ve not heard this story told in such a perfect lilt , and if the publisher is wise , they will elicit Mia Loberti for Verne ’ s other two works featuring Nemo : “ The Mysterious Island ” and a lesser-known collaborative play , “ Journey Through the Impossible ,” written a dozen years after the 1870 launch of “ 20,000 Leagues .”
For the bibliophiles In the category of what ’ s new is what ’ s new , 2024 has already been a good year for literature , and in continuing the fantastical theme is “ Unbound ” by Christy Healy . A tale of betrayal and unrequited romance , Healy brings Celtic myths into this gender-bent reimagining of “ Beauty and the Beast .”
Rozlyn O Conchuir is destined for love , waiting in the imprisonment of her tower for the defeat of the beast of Connacht through the arrival of the man who will not only win her heart , but vanquish the curse that plagues both her and her kingly father ’ s people .
After the suitor arrives , though , her hopes and dreams are savagely unmasked and trust is irreparably broken . Or is it ? There may be more here than Rozlyn imagined — if she can learn that some misfortunes are better left shackled than unbound .
And an aside : Blackstone completes the magical story with a fine print production . The textured cover artwork and book design are by Larissa Ezell , and that design includes interior illustrations , maps and something I don ’ t mention often in reviews : a unique typeface that draws the reader wonderfully into the world of make-believe .
Even as we ’ re drawn into a world with more grit and grime . Gordon Greisman ’ s “ The Devil ’ s Daughter ” is not only taut and fine noir , it ’ s a story that showcases something you don ’ t much witness — a novelist having pure fun with the craft .
Greisman ’ s PI story is solid and gets a screenwriter ’ s touch — the author earned an Emmy
Courtesy of Blackstone Award nomination for his NBC mini-series “ The Drug Wars : In the Belly of the Beast ” — Publishing but tempering period characters with private investigator Jack Coffey ’ s search for the daughter of an uptown financier is a delicious recipe for a story .
Infusing well-known mobsters , jazzmen and actors ( Thelonious Monk is a bud , as is Bud , aka a young Marlon Brando ), athletes and authors ( How many detective stories have you read that feature Albert Camus ?) attach some verbal paradox that ironically makes the story more real .
Add Greisman ’ s prose (“ My favorite time in the city is just before dawn . The town isn ’ t really asleep , it ’ s just resting its eyes .”) and unexpected throwaways (“ Richie Costello can ’ t stop staring at V , which is not only embarrassing but pretty inappropriate , considering he ’ s a priest .”) and you get a writer not only enjoying the work , but mastering it .
Some books you read in a day and this is that kind of book . It ’ ll no doubt be the best book you ’ ve read so far this year , and although we have some big hitters showing up in the next few months , it ’ s already a contender — with 11 months to go — for the best book you ’ ll read all year .
A caveat : Greisman ’ s story is raw and real , and some readers might get tripped by triggers . The material is handled well , but if stories about abuse and violence are on your “ avoid ” list , take a pass . The case of the missing Lucy Garrett — “ who just might be the devil incarnate ” — is as hardboiled as it gets , but Greisman takes no issue with breaking a few rotten eggs to let their sulfuric fumes permeate the pages .
By the end , you ’ ll get why the story is shaped like this , and maybe it ’ s Coffey himself who describes it best : “ I ’ m not all right . In my line of work sometimes I see the absolute worst in
Courtesy of Blackstone Publishing
people . It ’ s supposed to make me hard and cynical , but that ’ s just a Hollywood fantasy . I ’ d have to be dead inside not to let something like this get to me .” No question : “ The Devil ’ s Daughter ” will get to you . M Reach reviewer Tom Mayer at tmayer @ cullmantimes . com .
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