Book Review-Run-You-Down

Run You Down

(Rebekah Roberts #2)

by

Julia Dahl

 

In the beginning I found Run You Down a bit slow.  However, it soon developed into an interesting story.

Reporter Rebekah Roberts is still searching for her mother, when her job takes into the lives of people who eventually commit some horrific acts of violence.  No spoiler.

There passages of Run You Down which I think could have been left on the editor’s floor.  However, all in all Run You Down is another look into the lives of people of Jewish faith in contemporary America.

Young Rebekah is again the central figure along with several other characters from Invisible City, the first book in the series.  While Run You Down works quite well as a standalone novel my recommendation would be to read Invisible City first as characters mentioned in Invisible City are expanded upon in Run You Down.

My initial evaluation of Run You Down was that it would struggle to gain a three star rating.  As I said it seemed a bit slow early on.  By the time I finished reading Run You Down, I was happy with my four star rating.

I think

Run You Down

 

is definitely a

read.

Goodreads readers have rated

Run you Down

an average of 3.78 stars from 1,005 ratings and 174 reviews

Run you Down

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

 

Book Review-Invisible-City

Invisible City

by

Julia Dahl

 

Invisible City, by Julia Dahl is the second book read from my gift compilation of four books.  I might also add that because there were four books in one I assumed, incorrectly, that these would be ‘old’ novels, published perhaps thirty to forty years ago.  However, Invisible City was published on May 6, 2014.

Set among Brooklyn’s Hasidic community this crime story was intriguing especially for this reader whose knowledge of the Hasidic community and most other religions and their practices is very limited.

Invisible City traces the efforts of an aspiring young female stringer (Rebekah Roberts) who is working for the (NY) Tribune.  As with The Dead Beat (by Doug Johnstone) this journalist finds herself in the middle of several murders which take some time to unravel, early in her career.  To my mind I find that point alone is the hardest concept to grasp.

However, I enjoyed Invisible City and for me that is the main criteria when reading.  Did I enjoy it?  True, I don’t know if some of the Jewish cultural practices alluded to were/are fact or fiction.  Does it really matter?  I enjoyed the story.

Most authors take some license when writing to keep their story interesting.  And if reality and this story do not match, is it due to pressure from an editor or publisher to keep the story flowing?  After all there is nothing worse than a story with pages and pages of detail about a character’s dress, hair, appetite and likes or dislikes.

Invisible City is Book 1 of a Rebekah Roberts series and if I can find book two I will read it and then decide on Book 3.  I daresay that it is the latter books which unravel some of Rebekah’s personal issues which were bubbling along in Invisible City.

However, as far as Invisible City is concerned I think it is definitely worth a read…as long as you do not have any religious prejudices as it does focus entirely on the Hasidic community in Brooklyn.

 

 

Definitely a

read.

Invisible City

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon