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| A Burnable Book by Bruce Holsinger |
Once I got over my
giggle fest at any mention of the road in London called Gropecunt
Lane (immature I know, but I can't be a grown up about everything all
of the time) I went on to delight in this charming and well written
read. I can hardly even believe that it is a debut for that
scholastic fellow, Bruce Holsinger, but it is. So believe it I must.
The absolute strength of
this book is its characters. Sure, the writing is adept majority of
the time and the manner in which the story laid itself out impressed
me enough, but I liked the book for its memorable characters most of
all.
Then there is the meat
of this book. Its reason for existing. The mystery plot.
The mystery plot did its
job. Enjoyable, educational and significant enough to keep me coming
back for more. However, I would not say the outcomes sneaked up on
me. I could see down the line what was coming.
In saying that though, I
was not all that disappointed by knowing who was up to what and why
they were up to it and what they would do with what they had when
they wanted to get up to what they were up to... That is going to
happen in every mystery. Some readers will guess, some won't. Just so
happened that in this book, I guessed.
I must not forget to
mention another strength of this book that I overlooked earlier in
this review. The description of setting and context. I am a sucker
for a well strung bow. And A Burnable Book carried a qualified
arsenal. The streets, the politics, but of them all, I think the
portrait of life in the slums of London came through sharply. Even
now, having finished the book a few weeks gone, that world of the
London moll stays vivid in my mind.
Bruce Holsinger did a
wonderful job in A Burnable Book, to bring this particular era of
medieval England to life and I cannot wait for the follow up book to
be released.
I get so jaded with
sorting wheat from chaff in the genre of historical fiction. When a
great debut comes along and I get the scent in my nostrils of even
better reads to come, I celebrate them. And therefore I celebrate A
Burnable Book. I hope to discover more of these quality debuts.
- MM
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