Laurel's Little Book Review: Spies & Lies with The Vixen

Here is my very first "Laurel's Little Book Review". I'm very excited Harper Perennial asked me to start reviewing new titles for them and happy this new historical fiction by Francine Prose was the first one. Here are my review and brand agnostic Cliff's Notes:

THE BOOK: The Vixen by Francine Prose. Published by Harper Perennial.

WHAT HAPPENS: We open on Coney Island, June 19, 1953, the night of the Rosenberg’s execution. For those who don't remember A.P. US History, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were charged and convicted of spying on the behalf of the Soviet Union, and became the first American citizens to be put to death in the McCarthy Witch Hunt-bonanza. Our protagonist, Simon Putnam, a young Jewish Harvard student, is watching this ghoulish activity with his parents, who happened to be neighbors with the couple. Also, I Love Lucy is on TV.

We cut to Simon on his first day at work. He’s a junior editor at fledgling publishing house Landry, Landry, and Bartlett, and his boss Warren (who hires women based on breast size) has hired him to replace a female editor he fired for getting pregnant. He may have gotten her pregnant, but still. How unsightly.

Warren asks Simon to edit his first big assignment: the story of the Rosenbergs told as a tawdry bodice-ripper, written by a femme fatale type who lives in a mental institution and likes to have sex on roller coasters. His conscience doesn’t like this, but his penis is intrigued…

WHAT I THOUGHT: There’s twists, there’s turns, there’s 5 martini lunches. I laughed out loud at some of the character descriptions and was chilled by some of the dark spots.

READ IF YOU LIKE: LA Confidential, The Paris Wife, and stories of conspiracy, the 50’s, and naughty CIA agents.

GOOD FOR: Reminding everyone you’re learned while reading fiction at the beach.

RATING: 🥓🥓🥓🥓

Laurel's Little Book Review #2: What to Know about What Jonah Knew

Here we go, Laurel’s Little Book Review, by way of Harper Perennial who decided to start sending me free books to ramble on about, Episode #2: 

THE BOOK: What Jonah Knew by Barbara Graham. Published by Harper Perennial.

WHAT HAPPENS: We open in true thriller fashion with a downright scary cold open from the POV of Henry, a handsome young musician with a loving partner and baby on the way who has just been kidnapped by an unnamed assailant – but he doesn’t know it yet. And here I thought SVU didn’t premiere till Sept 22nd. Dun-dun.

What happens to Henry? We have to wait and see as we cut forward, back, and forth through the early aughts between his mother Helen Bird’s desperate search for him and arrested grieving (she refuses to accept that he’s truly gone) in a seemingly idyllic Hudson Valley type of town, and a young NYC couple, Lucie and Matt Pressman (a women’s magazine writer and eye surgeon, respectively) with a son of their own on the way. 

Tempted by the siren song of suburban life, Lucie goes to that same exact seemingly idyllic town solo at 9 months pregnant to see if it might be time for her growing family to do that thing. She doesn’t find a house with a white picket fence and a dog, but she does go into labor in a bakery owned by Helen Bird – who ends up being the first person to hold Lucie’s son, Jonah. This is our set up. 

As time jumps forward, Lucie can’t help but notice Jonah acts a little…strange. He seems to know things about the missing Henry Bird and almost think he is him…

Can Jonah help solve this cold case? Can Helen move past the loss of her son (aka cut her hair which she has sworn not to do until he’s found). And most importantly, WHODUNNIT?? 

WHAT I THOUGHT: An easy, breezy read though some of the dialogue and descriptors read like Stephen King’s list of writing “don’ts” (adverbs abound, adorable little kids as sweet as sugar plums, etc.). Not to say every thriller has to haunt your Kubrickian dreams; let’s call this an Aperol Spritz version of The Shining. 

There were a few minor inaccuracies that bugged me and the kids were just too darn cutesy for me. This is not to say you won’t enjoy it over a weekend. I kept picturing what nest Helen’s long hair must be after not cutting it for a decade which was as scary a thought as the set-up. Split-end maintenance is so important. Think if Mare of Easttown was on Lifetime, this is that.

READ IF YOU LIKE: Psychics, cupcakes, and Netflix thrillers like The Weekend Away. 

GOOD FOR: Proving you can take a break from streaming Shondaland by reading a book that pairs well with popcorn.

RATING: 🥓🥓🥓1/2