The Frame-Up – a review
Today, I intended to review a book from my backlog – six are
left from March-May – but I read faster than I write.
Rather than add another book to my backlog and forget its
essence, here’s my thoughts fresh from my head.
The Frame-Up
(The Golden
Arrow #1)
By day she writes
comic books. By night, she lives them.
MG Martin lives and breathes geek culture. She even works as a writer for the
comic book company she idolized as a kid. But despite her love of hooded
vigilantes, MG prefers her comics stay on the page.
But when someone in LA starts recreating crime scenes from her favorite comic
book, MG is the LAPD’s best—and only—lead. She recognizes the golden arrow left
at the scene as the calling card of her favorite comic book hero. The thing
is…superheroes aren’t real. Are they?
When the too-handsome-for-his-own-good Detective Kildaire asks for her comic
book expertise, MG is more than up for the adventure. Unfortunately, MG has
a teeny little tendency to not follow rules. And her
off-the-books sleuthing may land her in a world of trouble.
Because for every superhero, there is a supervillain. And the villain of her
story may be closer than she thinks…
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Review 4.4 stars
The blurb sparked my interest – even if my comic reading
days are behind me; well, some months I gaze at one on my Kindle. I still find
room for geek culture so in that respect I was not disappointed. In fact, I was
nodding my head throughout, smiling at the references to superheroes and shows
I knew.
Some I didn’t, but no matter as the plot kept me reading and
wanting super-reveals. MG was amusingly quirky, and her detective distraction,
the cute but tough Matteo Kildaire, was not the dumb policeman of too many cozy
mysteries.
I’ve stopped reading cozies for that reason – reckless sleuths
and stupid police. This was different – even though MG had a reckless streak to
her sleuthing. But she made up in other aspects – and Matteo gave her the
justification – as far as MG was concerned. The police need her to resolve a
crime with possible comic connections – golden arrows.
However, MG can be irritating in her willingness to trust some
people not others – when she has made specific observations. Avoiding a spoiler
so just saying.
The supporting roles are a mix of fun characters,
questionable colleagues, and shadowy suspects. Who will the real superhero
prove to be? Who is the supervillain that could be one step ahead of MG and
Matteo?
Someone that knows more about comics than Matteo?
Detective Kildaire has some amusing encounters with the
Geekdom that MG inhabits, from a Sorting Hat to a Star Wars movie marathon – building
a world around a culture that comes over as well-portrayed. Add in the wonderful
drag queen who might or might not be The Golden Arrow and the plotline shimmers.
That superhero/vigilante identity kept me wondering. Who can pull this off?
The Comic Con and costumes climax is neatly worked in – all the
right seeds sown. Satisfying ending to a fun novel that earns four stars plus.
Story – four stars
Setting/World-building
– five stars
Characters – five
stars
Authenticity – four
stars
Structure – four
stars
Readability – five
stars
Editing – four
stars
