I saw Queenpin, by Megan Abbott at the library used book store right after utter_scoundrel blogged about another of her books. Slim volume, so I gave it a try.The first half was so cliché it made me angry. Young girl cooking the books for some low budget operation is discovered by a serious player-chick who hires her and teaches her the underworld game. And Rule #1 is don't let a man screw it all up for you.
Young girl gets a taste for it and gets good at it and then she meets the jerk.
I must say that the whole, "I knew from the moment I met him that I would do anything for him" routine turned me off in a big way. She keeps her "relationship" a secret, so then we wait to find out when and how it is "discovered" or whether the boss knew it all along. I didn't care.
Then comes the day when the jerk presents his plan for her to get him a big score. Here we go. And it is all ugly and stupid. But then, the story actually gets good.
Death of the Jerk just rocked. And the last third of the book is watching the game unfold in the aftermath. Does the mentor intend to throw the protégée to the wolves, or is she just buying insurance? Will the protégée cut and run? She is a bit of a crybaby.
The climax of the story is not unexpected, but very cinematic. The "epilogue" is lame. And there were still some unanswered questions that left me hanging. But in the end, I enjoyed it. Abbott's novels do not require much of a commitment (What was I thinking in starting up another Mailer this year?) so I grabbed another.
1 comment:
"The Song is You" is my favorite Abbott book.
u_s
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