Brooklyn is so full of writers that you can’t go a block without seeing three. Yet, I only get children’s and parenting books for review. News: parents like to read fiction too! One author realized this and sent me her fiction book featuring Brooklyn characters and settings.
A cross between a procedural and a young adult novel yet written for adults, Last Night by Karen Ellis (a pseudonym for Katia Lief who has actually written quite a few mysteries) is hard to categorize. The journey of the teenagers is very standard YA territory (coming of age, father problems, race issues) with adult plot developments while I would have loved to see more of the detectives’ point-of-views. It was fun to see the familiar Red Hook (Ikea!) and Carroll Gardens (ish) settings explored through the eyes of the teenagers and it is nice to read something that isn’t terribly depressing (or too real) for once. The novel features characters from her previous book, Map of the Dark, in a way that hints to the reader that those character might be more interesting in that incarnation.
Thanks Katia for sending it over! Fiction authors take note, we love Brooklyn authors regardless of the genre.