Monday, March 22, 2010

Gentlemen & Players by Joanne Harris

Wow.

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Harris' stories. They're so beautifully written, with all of these little details that seem so unimportant and yet end up meaning so much. Her characters are real, complex, and never quite what they seem. The plots are straightforwardly full of twists and turns, and nothing ever happens quite like you think it's going to.

I used to love mysteries, devoured them in junior high and high school, but eventually lost my taste for them. The plots became stale, it was evident "whodunit," and I really felt that all of the characters had become the same. Thank God I didn't give up the genre completely, or I never would have read Gentlemen & Players. I can't decide which part of the story I liked the best, the small secrets that are slowly revealed, leading us to the truth, or the very real "players," of which only one knows the rules to this game.

Honestly, this book has it all; a cast full of old grudges and older secrets, an institution ripe for a fall, a town full of hate, and someone who has come back after fifteen years to settle an old score.

You'll never see this one coming.

2 comments:

Danielle said...

I Loved this book, too. And no, I didn't see it coming either. She has a new book coming out that sounds, if not similar, darkish like this one. I can't wait to get my hands on it! :)

Heather said...

Really, a new book? I hadn't heard; thanks! I went to the library and picked up the "sequel" to Chocolate and a collection of her short stories that I'm fairly certain I've read before.