What You Want To See by Kristen Lepionka
My rating: 5/5 cats
awww, why, thank YOU!
if you haven’t read lepionka’s debut, The Last Place You Look, which is the first book in this series, you should go do that now. the rest of us are gonna hang out here and reminisce about it and then i’m gonna talk about the new one.
sigh, remember The Last Place You Look? that was awesome, right?
okay, that’s enough reminiscing. onto What You Want To See.
first, what you want to know – is this book as good as her debut? yes. in fact, it is even better.
the “sophomore slump” can happen for a number of reasons; either an author just writes the same damn book again and hopes no one notices, or they go too far in another direction in order to avoid writing the same damn book again and end up alienating fans of the debut, or the author/publisher miscalculates what made the first book work and doubles down in the wrong direction.
i think we all agree that we ♥ roxane weary most of all, and couldn’t wait to see what that boozy sleuth was going to get into next.
welllllll – let’s just say that lepionka hasn’t fallen into the trap of writing the same damn book again, because roxane is a slightly reformed version of herself this time out. she’s as stubborn and funny and likable a character as she was in The Last Place You Look, but with her father’s death a little further in her rearview, she’s not drowning her grief in whiskey as much, and she’s making more responsible decisions when it comes to her personal life and relationships with her family, tom, and catherine. she’s even become something like a mentor/role model/cool surrogate aunt to a teenage girl.
i know, i know – that the private investigator character will also be a self-destructive blackout drunk is a pretty deeply-ingrained convention of the genre, but an ohio-based bisexual female PI is already playing against type, so let’s allow her to lead a somewhat healthier life without judgment. after all, there’s a point where excess stops being cute:
or at least compromises productivity, no matter what all those noir classics’ll have you believe, and i think it shows great maturity in roxane to be switching her drink of choice from whiskey to tea. okay, sometimes tea with a little whiskey in it. okay, sometimes also just whiskey. rome wasn’t built in a day.
don’t worry – she’s still the same roxane we fell in love with, she’s just a little more stable. and she needs to be in a better headspace because this case gets even more complicated than her last when an investigation into a suspected cheating spouse ends in murrrrrderrrrr, exposing a web of criminal activity that catches the attention of “about ten different jurisdictions,” and tom, keeping his promise to the memory of roxane’s dad, tries to make sure roxane’s not the eleventh.
so, once again it’s lone wolf roxane being thin blue lined out of an investigation, pursuing the case on her own and managing to dig up a ton of dirt despite the lack of professional cooperation and resources. but wolves run in packs for a reason, and what she discovers puts both roxane and those close to her in danger.
dunh dunh DUNH
there’s absolutely no sophomore slump here – it’s a much more complex mystery plot with a wholly satisfying resolution, and the writing and character work are excellent – while roxane is slightly changed from where we left her in The Last Place You Look, she’s still utterly badass and ready to take on the world, or at least the city:
There were only so many mysteries out there that needed solving, even in a city like Columbus.
let’s hope she finds many, many more.
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btw – peanut butter, sriracha, and shredded carrot sandwich? that is my new favorite recipe.
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are you jelly???
