Helpful Score: 2
This book is outstanding. It tells the story of Mickey, who is a Philadelphia police officer and her search for her missing sister Kacey, who is a drug addict and prostitute.
The chapters are divided into sections which take place in present day, and flashbacks that tell the backstories of Mickey and her Kacey. The chapters are short and this book is definitely a page-turner, though I found myself reading compusively because I came to care so much for the characters. On the surface it is a crime novel about a missing person, but it is really a story about family bonds, love and redemption, with enough plot twists to satisfy crime fiction fans.
The chapters are divided into sections which take place in present day, and flashbacks that tell the backstories of Mickey and her Kacey. The chapters are short and this book is definitely a page-turner, though I found myself reading compusively because I came to care so much for the characters. On the surface it is a crime novel about a missing person, but it is really a story about family bonds, love and redemption, with enough plot twists to satisfy crime fiction fans.
Helpful Score: 2
Northeast Philadelphia. Gritty novel about Mickey, a police officer, and her sister, Kacey, who suffers from addiction and is missing. A serial killer is on the loose who targets women who engage in sex work to fund their addictions. Love all the Philly connections and Liz Mooreâs writing. Looking forward to reading more of her books.This one held my attention until the very end! Highly recommended!
Helpful Score: 1
This book is complicated as it stars well drawn out characters; one a police officer and the other her sister in the throes of addiction. The story is about Mickey and Kacey, murder, bad cops, prostitution, addicts, overdoses and more.
There is a lot of family drama that keeps interest in the plot. It kept me reading to the end which was not very satisfying.
There is a lot of family drama that keeps interest in the plot. It kept me reading to the end which was not very satisfying.
Helpful Score: 1
I didn't care a whole lot for this, it is very wordy and overdone on descriptions
The story I'd consider a fairly good story but should've been done in a different format
I get very tired of books that have the before/after aspect to them it doesn't help a story but draws away from the main plot when you have to keep going to the 'after' part just to explain something that doesn't matter anyway
I'm very stingy with a 5* rating it has to be exceptionally good and this does not meet that requirement for me, too long too wordy print almost too small for comfortable reading (publisher fault not author) and the format of the then/now just wasn't necessary but made for more pages that just didn't have anything to offer
The story I'd consider a fairly good story but should've been done in a different format
I get very tired of books that have the before/after aspect to them it doesn't help a story but draws away from the main plot when you have to keep going to the 'after' part just to explain something that doesn't matter anyway
I'm very stingy with a 5* rating it has to be exceptionally good and this does not meet that requirement for me, too long too wordy print almost too small for comfortable reading (publisher fault not author) and the format of the then/now just wasn't necessary but made for more pages that just didn't have anything to offer
Part police procedural, part story of two sisters. Light suspense. Lots of Philly references. Mickey is a cop, her sister is an addict. They both are in the Kensington part of Philly. It is rough and gritty. Then Kacey goes missing while there is a string of murders and a serial killer on the loose. Mickey is looking for her sister at the same time she is trying to find the murderer. I liked Mickey and liked the story, both the mystery and the relationship between her and her sister. Lots of family drama and lots of shady characters who could be the killer. The ending seemed a little abrupt to me.
This is very well written with some twists in the plot. It's mostly a family drama but part police procedural and part murder mystery. All that being said, it's not a happy book and it ends leaving me somewhat bereft.
Impressive. A genuinely thoughtful thriller that uses the mystery at its heart to explore survival, addiction, loyalty to your tribe ... the way that love can raise you up ... and hold you back.
I'm still processing this -- because there's a LOT to process here. And if I have one criticism, that's it -- that Moore could have done with a sympathetic editor who might have gently suggested trimming it here and there -- at times, it felt like it wallows, and indulges in unnecessary (if beautifully written) repetition and revisiting, and going over the same ground, just because she can. At about page 300, aware that I still had about 150 pages to go, I really wanted to say, could you please just get on with it?
But ... but, but, but .... I'm also willing to admit (processing, you see) that Moore is being very brave, testing the patience of her readers, because this isn't a simple whodunnit. It's a journey, and it's not about the destination -- the answers to the questions of who's murdering the sex workers and addicts of Kensington, Philadelphia, and is Kacey Fitzpatrick, the sister of our narrator, one of those victims?
And the journey is all about how Michaela ("Mickey") Fitzpatrick embarks on her own recovery -- from unbearable loss, from a toxic childhood, from chronic abuse, from the effects of a life spent reining in her dreams and ambitions. The question of who is doing the terrible things in Kensington is important, and topical, and (full credit to Moore) it does NOT come across as a McGuffin, which she is only spinning out to give her characters something to do, and indulge herself in fine prose. The world of Kensington that she constructs, and the struggles of Mickey Fitzpatrick to liberate herself from the aspects of it that have crippled her (emotionally, socially and professionally) feel very real and frighteningly well-observed.
I'm still processing this -- because there's a LOT to process here. And if I have one criticism, that's it -- that Moore could have done with a sympathetic editor who might have gently suggested trimming it here and there -- at times, it felt like it wallows, and indulges in unnecessary (if beautifully written) repetition and revisiting, and going over the same ground, just because she can. At about page 300, aware that I still had about 150 pages to go, I really wanted to say, could you please just get on with it?
But ... but, but, but .... I'm also willing to admit (processing, you see) that Moore is being very brave, testing the patience of her readers, because this isn't a simple whodunnit. It's a journey, and it's not about the destination -- the answers to the questions of who's murdering the sex workers and addicts of Kensington, Philadelphia, and is Kacey Fitzpatrick, the sister of our narrator, one of those victims?
And the journey is all about how Michaela ("Mickey") Fitzpatrick embarks on her own recovery -- from unbearable loss, from a toxic childhood, from chronic abuse, from the effects of a life spent reining in her dreams and ambitions. The question of who is doing the terrible things in Kensington is important, and topical, and (full credit to Moore) it does NOT come across as a McGuffin, which she is only spinning out to give her characters something to do, and indulge herself in fine prose. The world of Kensington that she constructs, and the struggles of Mickey Fitzpatrick to liberate herself from the aspects of it that have crippled her (emotionally, socially and professionally) feel very real and frighteningly well-observed.
