Follow Her Home (Juniper Song, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Aug 25, 2014 Daisy rated it liked it

Shelves: la-hollywood, juniper-song

Enjoyable. Both melancholy and tense. It takes place all in one weekend, all in my part of town, or areas I know well. That makes it even more accessible. I wonder how it reads to someone who doesn't know Los Angeles at all. The city and its street corners play a big part in this Noir novel.
I look forward to reading more in the Juniper Song series. She cracks her knuckles and drives a stick-shift. (Next one: Beware Beware: A Juniper Song Mystery)

3.8 stars ...more

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Apr 24, 2019 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: neo-noir, broken, mystery

I was limp as a beanbag suspended in air and slashed down the belly, all of its insides dry an rattling on the floor.

The drive down the Highlands hummed with the retreat of menace into the breathing of evening palms. The clock read 7:42. I hadn’t been unconscious more than four hours, but if four hours is enough time to watch Citizen Kane twice, it’s enough to sap plenty of joy out of one girl’s leaking life.

I’m not quite sure how I felt about this book. The title and cover somehow lead me t

I was limp as a beanbag suspended in air and slashed down the belly, all of its insides dry an rattling on the floor.

The drive down the Highlands hummed with the retreat of menace into the breathing of evening palms. The clock read 7:42. I hadn’t been unconscious more than four hours, but if four hours is enough time to watch Citizen Kane twice, it’s enough to sap plenty of joy out of one girl’s leaking life.

I’m not quite sure how I felt about this book. The title and cover somehow lead me to expect this to be a dark, twisty, literary mystery. But this is just a straight up mystery, slightly madcap, complete with a judgy protagonists and fun sidekicks, and a lot (a lot) of references to Philip Marlowe. And a dead body, of course. It didn’t feel compelling, but it wasn’t a chore to read, either.

It felt like the book didn’t know what it wanted to be, which foot it should land on. There’s the hard-boiled lingo, and the constant meta references to classic hard-boiled novels, and the actual danger the characters get into. There are frequent flashbacks to Juniper’s college days and some difficulties with her younger sister; I wasn’t sure why they kept getting shoe-horned into the plot, but finally it started to make sense. I didn’t particularly like Juniper, and the more time I spent with her, the less I liked her. But I didn’t hate her, either. She’s got flaws, and she’s aware of her flaws.

Then the book changes, and it’s both gritty and madcap, which is a very odd combination. Then it got dark. Then it got really dark. I felt constantly off-balance while reading this.

But maybe that’s a good thing. I read so many books, therefore it’s hard to surprise me because I’ve usually seen it before.

This is a murder mystery, with multiple murders, that’s actually depressing. And murders should be depressing, right?

My biggest complaint: the title is never explained. At no point in this book is a woman followed home.

I’m intrigued enough to add the next book in this series to my TBR immediately.

Originally read about this book here: https://bookriot.com/2019/04/24/crime... ...more

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