Reviewed By: Sarah - RAM
Tropic of Night
Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Michael Gruber
Class/Genre: Mystery Thriller Supernatural
Series: Iago "Jimmy" Paz # 1
Before I start my review, I have to say this: what the hell's going on
with William Morrow? They just keep getting amazing authors to come
out of the woodwork, like Mark B, KS, Fidelis, Laura Lippman, Larry
Block, Ace Atkins, and recently T Jefferson Parker signed on with them
as well.
Add Michael Gruber to the list. This, his first novel, has gotten an incredible amount of advance buzz. I suspect Partners & Crime will make it a "Partner's Pick" (what we designate first novels that everybody who works there--or at least a substantial majority--really loved reading and will be selling like crazy.) and Kirkus AND PW gave the book starred reviews.
There's a whole lot of things happening here, but in a nutshell: Jane Doe--yep, that's her real name, she was a daughter of an extremely wealthy Long Island family, old money to the nth degree--has been in hiding for several years. She's also had a rather extraordinary life as an anthropologist. Unfortunately, she's also had some extreme hardships in her life, suffering a possible breakdown in Siberia, then travelling to Africa with her husband and getting so mixed up in magic and sorcery that she starts wasting away and breaks down again, to the point of faking suicide and running away. But of course, things are not what they seem.
Meanwhile, Miami is rocked by a series of horribly grisly murders--very pregnant women are being slaughtered and their babies are cut out and sacrificed, if you will. Detective Jimmy Paz, a somewhat cynical Cuban, and his older, bible-spouting partner Cletis Barlow, get the case and are bamboozled by what the evidence is telling them, and what it isn't. The murders seem highly ritualized, and suggest use of psychotropic drugs that only originate from Africa. Never mind that witnesses describe seeing a man at the murder scenes who bears an eerie resemblance to Detective Paz.
TROPIC OF NIGHT is a risk taking book. The investigation scenes are interspersed with Jane's current life, and her diaries from Africa, which slowly reveal the horrors and what her connection is to the murders. I also learned much, and the depth which it delves into shamanism,anthropological study, and African magic was very illuminating. Then there's the ending--apocalyptic, mind-bending, and pretty damn spectacular.
But if it hadn't been for the characters, I wouldn't have kept reading. Although Jane is certainly an enigmatic, complex woman and the book hangs on her portrayal (and very well I might add) I had the softest spot for Paz, who's kind of freeloading through life, living in a rent-free apartment owned by his mother. Ah, and his mother, she's really something as well. Their relationship is argumentative but loving, and also shed light on the different Cuban communities and their attitudes to each other.
In any case, this is a book well worth reading, and I suspect I'll be thinking about it for many days to come.
Sarah - RAM
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Sarah - RAM
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