You'll have to work long and hard to find a hero who makes a more memorable entrance (and exit) than Andrea (Andie) Stern. Deadpool co-creator Fabian Nicieza has created a mystery that will fire up your mental movie scene and leave you wanting more. That is, you'll be begging for more unless you're a reader who does not like satire-- especially satire that pokes fun at the sanctity and inevitability of motherhood and children. Being childless by choice, Nicieza's humor was right up my alley, and I enjoyed every moment of it.
Nicieza is very adept with perfect turns of phrase and setting scenes, and I loved the character of Andie Stern. Andie has a brilliant criminalist's mind, able to see patterns that no one else can see, capable of absorbing the smallest details from crime scenes, and detecting the subtle nuances of a person's behavior. Having been instrumental in catching a serial killer before she ever graduated from college, Andie should have gone straight to the FBI. Now, years into a disappointing marriage to an investment banker on parole for playing around with other people's money, she realizes that the one thing she gave up in exchange for a wedding ring is the one thing she misses the most: her intellect and the joy of using it. Having babies and being a chauffeur just doesn't cut it. She needs more.
Kenny Lee is the weaker of the two characters, at least for me, probably because he exhibits that annoying reporter behavior that can drive most people insane. But he does have an important role in this amateur investigation. He's not merely an annoyance. Kenny was the youngest reporter to win a Pulitzer Prize, "the college student who brought down the governor of New Jersey", an answer on Jeopardy! for crying out loud. But his fall from grace has him working for a weekly newspaper in West Windsor, New Jersey, and willing to do anything to be back in the spotlight.
As the investigation unfolds and pieces slowly begin to fall into place, I found myself expecting something to happen that never did. Andie, with 4.9 kids in tow, couldn't always find a babysitter, so it's fortunate indeed that anyone with criminal intent relied solely upon intimidation instead of anything stronger. I like it when an author does the unexpected, but then... Nicieza had to, didn't he? If he harmed a pregnant mother, readers would have come forthwith to his doorstep brandishing torches and pitchforks.
I enjoyed Suburban Dicks from first page to last, and with a main character who looks a man in the eye and calmly says, "How could I be obstructing the performance of your duties if you're not performing them?" how could I do anything other than say, "Mr. Nicieza, may I please have more Andie Stern?"
Nicieza is very adept with perfect turns of phrase and setting scenes, and I loved the character of Andie Stern. Andie has a brilliant criminalist's mind, able to see patterns that no one else can see, capable of absorbing the smallest details from crime scenes, and detecting the subtle nuances of a person's behavior. Having been instrumental in catching a serial killer before she ever graduated from college, Andie should have gone straight to the FBI. Now, years into a disappointing marriage to an investment banker on parole for playing around with other people's money, she realizes that the one thing she gave up in exchange for a wedding ring is the one thing she misses the most: her intellect and the joy of using it. Having babies and being a chauffeur just doesn't cut it. She needs more.
Kenny Lee is the weaker of the two characters, at least for me, probably because he exhibits that annoying reporter behavior that can drive most people insane. But he does have an important role in this amateur investigation. He's not merely an annoyance. Kenny was the youngest reporter to win a Pulitzer Prize, "the college student who brought down the governor of New Jersey", an answer on Jeopardy! for crying out loud. But his fall from grace has him working for a weekly newspaper in West Windsor, New Jersey, and willing to do anything to be back in the spotlight.
As the investigation unfolds and pieces slowly begin to fall into place, I found myself expecting something to happen that never did. Andie, with 4.9 kids in tow, couldn't always find a babysitter, so it's fortunate indeed that anyone with criminal intent relied solely upon intimidation instead of anything stronger. I like it when an author does the unexpected, but then... Nicieza had to, didn't he? If he harmed a pregnant mother, readers would have come forthwith to his doorstep brandishing torches and pitchforks.
I enjoyed Suburban Dicks from first page to last, and with a main character who looks a man in the eye and calmly says, "How could I be obstructing the performance of your duties if you're not performing them?" how could I do anything other than say, "Mr. Nicieza, may I please have more Andie Stern?"
