Three Great Books #29

A reluctant baddie, a creepy teacher, and a compelling con artist.

Starter Villain, by John Scalzi

This is a great, quick romp. Charlie Fitzer is recently divorced, down on his luck, and living with his new cat Hera in his childhood home when he hears about his uncle’s death on CNBC. Jake Baldwin was a parking structure magnate but Charlie hasn’t been in contact with him since he was five. Charlie is visited by Mathilda Morrison, who introduces herself as Jake’s former business associate and asks Charlie, as his only remaining family member, to supervise the funeral. Things get weird fast: the funeral flower arrangements are accompanied by nasty messages like “See you in hell” and a bunch of hostile men show up to the service, one of whom tries to stab Jake’s corpse to make sure he’s actually dead. In relatively short order, Charlie’s house gets blown up, Hera the cat starts typing messages to him, and he finds out that his uncle was a supervillain with a vast empire and a set of murderous rivals. Oh, and Charlie is the heir to his business. I had so much fun reading this book, which also features dolphins who are trying to unionize and a Davos-like conference of evildoers.

Pet, by Catherine Chidgey

We might forget, as adults, how much sway our teachers have over us when we are young. Chidgey, who sets this book mostly in Wellington, New Zealand in 1984, certainly hasn’t. The Catholic school teacher she’s created in “Pet,” young and glamorous Mrs. Price, “made us feel special just by the way she looked at us, as if we had something important to say and she couldn’t wait to hear it,” in the words of the narrator, twelve-year-old Justine Crieve. Mrs. Price, who says her husband and daughter died in a car accident, is wholly inappropriate by today’s standards, favoring some kids over others, and hosting parties at her house, where she feeds girls sweets and encourages them to talk about boys. Justine has traumas of her own; her mother has died, her father is in denial, and she has occasional seizures, which dull her senses and her memories. Tension builds when small things start to go missing in Mrs. Price’s class, and suspicion soon falls on Amy Wong, Justine’s friend, even as Mrs. Price insinuates herself into Justine’s family. This is creepy and compelling, with an ending that I’m still turning over in my mind.

First Lie Wins, by Ashley Elston

This book has gotten a ton of hype, including the Reese’s Book Club seal of approval, and .… it was great! The “femme fatale con artist thriller” subgenre has let me down before, but Elston has crafted an unpredictable, addictive story. Our protagonist is Evie Porter, though we find out pretty quickly that it’s not her real name. Though she is about to move in with her apparently perfect boyfriend, Ryan, and seems to have actual feelings for him, Ryan is actually her mark. She’s been assigned by the faceless Mr. Smith, her menacing criminal boss for the past several years, to embed herself into Ryan’s life, snoop into his business dealings — which aren’t as straightforward as they seem on the surface — and await further orders. But at a party, Ryan introduces her to his old, troubled friend James, and his date, who bears a striking resemblance to Evie and identifies herself as Lucca Marino — which is Evie’s real name. It becomes clear that Mr. Smith has motives that go way beyond conning Ryan, and that Evie is going to have to stay a step ahead of her boss to save herself from prison or worse. Goodreads tells me I read this in a single day, so block off some time and enjoy the twists and turns.