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Rain City Comedy of Manners #1
The Grrrl of Limberlost
Samsara Byron is back in Seattle, working to save the world.
A murder in a Seattle coffee house. A murder on her father’s decaying boat dock on Puget Sound. All of this has nothing to do with Sam, she insists. She’s heroically fending off a criminal attack on the world’s cyber infrastructure—if she could only get anyone to answer the phone on Christmas day.
After escaping exurban life on Limberlost Island a decade earlier, Sam became a rockstar among anti-hacker security programmers: appearing at BlackHat conferences in vintage t-shirts and combat boots; investigating international security conspiracies with the FBI and NSA.
Now Sam is dragged sideways by chaos back on Limberlost Island: her brother accidentally embroiled her flakey father with gun runners; the boy next door came home as prodigal son, hiding from Eastern European gangsters; a porn farmer thinks he’s in love.
Meanwhile, the local weather guru promises that the large cold air mass headed for the Puget Sound Conversion Zone will dump record snow. Seattle is always paralyzed when it snows.
The Grrrl of Limberlost follows three self-absorbed voices through the frenzy and terror in their daily lives, mired in family losses and betrayals, while weaponized malware threatens to ruin Christmas. The key mystery: which voice is the unreliable narrator?
This light comedic suspense novel tries to include romance, but hardly anyone has time for it. It does contain inexplicit sex scenes and the sort of language you’d expect from gangsters, porn-farmers, and retro Riot Grrrls.
Annie Pearson’s Rain City Comedy of Manners series explores misadventures in contemporary Seattle among people whose work drives their hearts’ desires, often in conflict with other love affairs. When bad things happen to quirky people, can they survive the wretched comedy of romance under grey skies?
A murder in a Seattle coffee house. A murder on her father’s decaying boat dock on Puget Sound. All of this has nothing to do with Sam, she insists. She’s heroically fending off a criminal attack on the world’s cyber infrastructure—if she could only get anyone to answer the phone on Christmas day.
After escaping exurban life on Limberlost Island a decade earlier, Sam became a rockstar among anti-hacker security programmers: appearing at BlackHat conferences in vintage t-shirts and combat boots; investigating international security conspiracies with the FBI and NSA.
Now Sam is dragged sideways by chaos back on Limberlost Island: her brother accidentally embroiled her flakey father with gun runners; the boy next door came home as prodigal son, hiding from Eastern European gangsters; a porn farmer thinks he’s in love.
Meanwhile, the local weather guru promises that the large cold air mass headed for the Puget Sound Conversion Zone will dump record snow. Seattle is always paralyzed when it snows.
The Grrrl of Limberlost follows three self-absorbed voices through the frenzy and terror in their daily lives, mired in family losses and betrayals, while weaponized malware threatens to ruin Christmas. The key mystery: which voice is the unreliable narrator?
This light comedic suspense novel tries to include romance, but hardly anyone has time for it. It does contain inexplicit sex scenes and the sort of language you’d expect from gangsters, porn-farmers, and retro Riot Grrrls.
Annie Pearson’s Rain City Comedy of Manners series explores misadventures in contemporary Seattle among people whose work drives their hearts’ desires, often in conflict with other love affairs. When bad things happen to quirky people, can they survive the wretched comedy of romance under grey skies?
- GenresMystery
332 pages, ebook
First published August 24, 2013
1 person is currently reading
308 people want to read
About the author
Annie Pearson
11 books16 followersI grew up in Oregon. When I was at school in Ashland, in our free-living days, people said, “Freedom of the press belongs to those who own the presses.” I collaborated with poets, physicists, and mad Promethean professors to publish broadsides, pamphlets, and monographs—starting with mimeograph machines and moving to new quick-copy services.
Forced to flee Ashland as an economic refugee, I settled in Seattle. With only enough patience to endure two terms of a PhD lit program, I worked for a poverty program, a solar energy nonprofit, a city utility, and a host of temp-agency placements. While post-punk and emo rocked in the background, I realized I didn’t want a job and so built my own small writing/editing business.
After a while, I realized I was a terrible self-employer (long hours, unreasonable standards of perfection). The rise of the personal computer launched a new economy in Seattle. Finally: a new world that appreciated my genius at spelling, making lists, and putting things in alphabetical order--and trying pre-release software to see how it works and what makes it break.
In this new world, I wrote technical content for wizards, privateers, kings, and madmen, specializing in beta content for tiny specialized audiences. My greatest claim to publishing fame during the grunge decade: the Windows 95 Resource Kit, which helped evangelize the standardized TCP/IP networking required for easy Internet access (bye, Novell!). The next year after that book rose to #6 on the Computer Best Seller in Publishers Weekly, my mother made me stand by the remainder table in Barnes and Noble so she could take my picture.
Next: how high-impact technical writing makes it possible to stream alt-country music over the Internet on a PC. I was lead writer for PC 99 Design Guide (bye-bye serial port, hello USB; bye-bye tin-can sound, hello HD audio).
Once, sitting in a break room of a small software startup, one of the wizards I worked with prompted this question: “How do you know when you’re affluent?” As we argued the premise, he offered his own perfect answer: “When you can buy new hardbound books on impulse.” While working long hours, my library grew. To calm down at night while working with wizards and madmen, I reclaimed sanity reading Kage Baker, Michael Dibdin, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, and Andrea Camilleri. Lately, my favorites are Martha Wells, KJ Charles, and T Kingfisher.
I still lunch with the wizards and madmen, but now write (mostly fiction) full time in Seattle, in the heart of Capitol Hill, which is just a small town that a lot of people live in, surround by all the other "towns" that make up Seattle.
The "Restoration Rules" caper series explores what a group of cousins do for justice during the rise of Western Capitalism, when the king has a monopoly of the slave trade.
The “Rain City Comedy of Manners” series explores complicated lives in contemporary Seattle. The key question: When bad things happen to quirky people, can they survive the wretched comedy of romance under grey skies?
I also write the historical adventure series “Accidental Heretics” (as E.A. Stewart)--tales of conspiracy and revenge in southern France at the dawn of the Inquisition. These books seem to remind readers (especially guys) why they liked reading The Three Musketeers in the seventh grade.
Forced to flee Ashland as an economic refugee, I settled in Seattle. With only enough patience to endure two terms of a PhD lit program, I worked for a poverty program, a solar energy nonprofit, a city utility, and a host of temp-agency placements. While post-punk and emo rocked in the background, I realized I didn’t want a job and so built my own small writing/editing business.
After a while, I realized I was a terrible self-employer (long hours, unreasonable standards of perfection). The rise of the personal computer launched a new economy in Seattle. Finally: a new world that appreciated my genius at spelling, making lists, and putting things in alphabetical order--and trying pre-release software to see how it works and what makes it break.
In this new world, I wrote technical content for wizards, privateers, kings, and madmen, specializing in beta content for tiny specialized audiences. My greatest claim to publishing fame during the grunge decade: the Windows 95 Resource Kit, which helped evangelize the standardized TCP/IP networking required for easy Internet access (bye, Novell!). The next year after that book rose to #6 on the Computer Best Seller in Publishers Weekly, my mother made me stand by the remainder table in Barnes and Noble so she could take my picture.
Next: how high-impact technical writing makes it possible to stream alt-country music over the Internet on a PC. I was lead writer for PC 99 Design Guide (bye-bye serial port, hello USB; bye-bye tin-can sound, hello HD audio).
Once, sitting in a break room of a small software startup, one of the wizards I worked with prompted this question: “How do you know when you’re affluent?” As we argued the premise, he offered his own perfect answer: “When you can buy new hardbound books on impulse.” While working long hours, my library grew. To calm down at night while working with wizards and madmen, I reclaimed sanity reading Kage Baker, Michael Dibdin, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, and Andrea Camilleri. Lately, my favorites are Martha Wells, KJ Charles, and T Kingfisher.
I still lunch with the wizards and madmen, but now write (mostly fiction) full time in Seattle, in the heart of Capitol Hill, which is just a small town that a lot of people live in, surround by all the other "towns" that make up Seattle.
The "Restoration Rules" caper series explores what a group of cousins do for justice during the rise of Western Capitalism, when the king has a monopoly of the slave trade.
The “Rain City Comedy of Manners” series explores complicated lives in contemporary Seattle. The key question: When bad things happen to quirky people, can they survive the wretched comedy of romance under grey skies?
I also write the historical adventure series “Accidental Heretics” (as E.A. Stewart)--tales of conspiracy and revenge in southern France at the dawn of the Inquisition. These books seem to remind readers (especially guys) why they liked reading The Three Musketeers in the seventh grade.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 10, 2013
I loved it. Sam is such a bad ass character. I love her and her Clash t-shirt. I liked Matt, too. Nicky, I was ambiguous toward, but I think he's designed that way. I'll do a more comprehensive review later but I'm excited to start on Nine Volt Heart, the next in the series.
Full disclosure: the author of this book is my friend's mother. I might be biased a little, but it's such a fun read, I think anyone who enjoys techno-thrillers would enjoy this.
Full disclosure: the author of this book is my friend's mother. I might be biased a little, but it's such a fun read, I think anyone who enjoys techno-thrillers would enjoy this.
August 27, 2013
If I was independently wealthy, I would pay Annie Pearson to write just for me (and a few select other people). I have yet to be disappointed by the stories that come from her mind and just wish that she could write more quickly. The dialog between characters is so very real and believable, that you almost forget that you are reading a piece of fiction and not eavesdropping on someone's conversation.
I look forward to reading more books by this exceedingly talented author!
I look forward to reading more books by this exceedingly talented author!
August 13, 2013
Well this book was certainly something different. It took me a little while to get into the book because for a while you're having to maintain three separate storylines in your head but it gets easier to read when you can begin to see the links between the characters as their stories cross over though many things don't become entirely clear until the end and even then you're left assuming that you're right as not everything is written down in black and white.
I would recommend this to a person who likes a true mystery, who doesn't mind being kept in the dark for long periods. This book needs patience to be enjoyed, the reader has to be happy to lie back and let the story take its course, sure it's possible to pick up clues along the way but because of the twists and turns you can't put it all together half way through the book as you can with some other novels. This can be good or bad depending on how you like your books, personally I found it quite refreshing. Now I did have bit of a niggle with the comments to the blog in Nicky's story, the book starts off with these comments and it was a bit confusing to jump straight into this as I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but I can't really complain because it didn't take me long to grasp the idea and the comments actually added an interesting dimension to the story.
The characters were generally quite well fleshed out, not all of them were likeable or relatable but this helped add to the suspense in my eyes. Nicky felt a bit misguided, even a bit delusional at times so you can't really predict what he's going to do next. Matt's character was another one who added to the suspense, you think you know him and can begin to see where he's going from then something from his past comes to light and you have to go over all his actions in you head in this new light. This really helped keep the book interesting, though there were still a couple of places where the plot development felt a little slow.
I quite like the different family dynamics through the book, how the families took care of each other and generally interacted. Although the events and reactions were vastly exaggerated I found myself noticing how similar Sams family and Matt's family dynamics were similar to some of those I know. Especially with the inability to communicate and clue each other in.
I would say this book is worth a read if you enjoy a bit of a mystery and have a spare few hours, I don't see it becoming a world famous classic but it's enjoyable all the same.
I would recommend this to a person who likes a true mystery, who doesn't mind being kept in the dark for long periods. This book needs patience to be enjoyed, the reader has to be happy to lie back and let the story take its course, sure it's possible to pick up clues along the way but because of the twists and turns you can't put it all together half way through the book as you can with some other novels. This can be good or bad depending on how you like your books, personally I found it quite refreshing. Now I did have bit of a niggle with the comments to the blog in Nicky's story, the book starts off with these comments and it was a bit confusing to jump straight into this as I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but I can't really complain because it didn't take me long to grasp the idea and the comments actually added an interesting dimension to the story.
The characters were generally quite well fleshed out, not all of them were likeable or relatable but this helped add to the suspense in my eyes. Nicky felt a bit misguided, even a bit delusional at times so you can't really predict what he's going to do next. Matt's character was another one who added to the suspense, you think you know him and can begin to see where he's going from then something from his past comes to light and you have to go over all his actions in you head in this new light. This really helped keep the book interesting, though there were still a couple of places where the plot development felt a little slow.
I quite like the different family dynamics through the book, how the families took care of each other and generally interacted. Although the events and reactions were vastly exaggerated I found myself noticing how similar Sams family and Matt's family dynamics were similar to some of those I know. Especially with the inability to communicate and clue each other in.
I would say this book is worth a read if you enjoy a bit of a mystery and have a spare few hours, I don't see it becoming a world famous classic but it's enjoyable all the same.
August 10, 2016
I have some really mixed feelings about this book. I loved the main characters, Sam and Matt and Matt's family, but with the rest of the characters I always felt like I was missing something, was maybe a step behind somehow. As other reviewers have stated, the book is hard to get into. I kept track. I was lost until 22% into my Kindle. The story was told from one of three characters, back and forth, so by the time I felt I was getting comfortable with the background of one character, the story would switch to another and I was lost once again. Some of the chapters were even just a couple sentences in length before I was pulled back into a different plot yet again. I know the author wanted to let the reader in on the secrets of Limberlost bit by bit, but what ended up happening with me was that I was losing parts of the story bit by bit. At the end of the book there were questions I did not have answers to that I am sure were buried within the pages somewhere.
The only reason I am giving the book three stars is because of the two main characters, Sam and Matt. Pearson did a wonderful job in giving Sam a unique personality, a woman who can take care of herself in any situation, and she became larger than life as the story progressed. I was wishing more of the book involved her. Matt alone probably would not have been as interesting, but the teaming up of Matt with Sam made for an exciting chase scene and ending to the book as the story of the many different characters was being woven together for the reader. Unfortunately, by end I must have missed some important clues along the way and by the very end, all I cared about was where the book would leave Sam and Matt in their lives.
I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for a review.
The only reason I am giving the book three stars is because of the two main characters, Sam and Matt. Pearson did a wonderful job in giving Sam a unique personality, a woman who can take care of herself in any situation, and she became larger than life as the story progressed. I was wishing more of the book involved her. Matt alone probably would not have been as interesting, but the teaming up of Matt with Sam made for an exciting chase scene and ending to the book as the story of the many different characters was being woven together for the reader. Unfortunately, by end I must have missed some important clues along the way and by the very end, all I cared about was where the book would leave Sam and Matt in their lives.
I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for a review.
October 1, 2013
I received this book free from Net Galley in exchange for a review.
I had a hard time getting into this book. It is written from The point of view of three different people. However, once I figured out how everyone was connected, it was actually a pretty good read. The characters were well developed and the plot had a LOT of twists.
The quirky supporting characters gave me a few laughs and the love story wasn't all erotic. It was more like the characters were actually telling what they felt as opposed to what they did.
This book is definitely for a true mystery reader as things are not really spelled out right away, which definitely held my attention. I like putting the pieces together and not having everything spelled out for me.
I had a hard time getting into this book. It is written from The point of view of three different people. However, once I figured out how everyone was connected, it was actually a pretty good read. The characters were well developed and the plot had a LOT of twists.
The quirky supporting characters gave me a few laughs and the love story wasn't all erotic. It was more like the characters were actually telling what they felt as opposed to what they did.
This book is definitely for a true mystery reader as things are not really spelled out right away, which definitely held my attention. I like putting the pieces together and not having everything spelled out for me.
August 11, 2016
I was very disappointed by this story.
It seems that the author is in her own world with this book, she knows all the mysteries but doesn't like to share. When I began to understand the deal with all the mess I lost interest. The story and the characters are all over the place. I couldn't wait to finish it. Eventually my eyes dropped and went to take a nap. I'm usually to annoyed to even consider to take a mind break ;-) but the story was flat and barely there that my emotional investment was nil.
Not a keeper.
It seems that the author is in her own world with this book, she knows all the mysteries but doesn't like to share. When I began to understand the deal with all the mess I lost interest. The story and the characters are all over the place. I couldn't wait to finish it. Eventually my eyes dropped and went to take a nap. I'm usually to annoyed to even consider to take a mind break ;-) but the story was flat and barely there that my emotional investment was nil.
Not a keeper.
October 26, 2014
The Grrrl of Limberlost by Annie Pearson reminds me of Pulp Fiction. There are like three POV. Bits and pieces are shown but in order to solve the mystery, the readers really need to follow the story. The story has a gangster, a computer programmer, and a victim from a shooting. I just didn't see that sudden twist in the story until I was reading the revelation. Great story for a puzzler solver and a mystery follower.
I was given this ebook by the publisher via Net Galley. My opinion are my own and I was not compensated or influenced any way for my review.
I was given this ebook by the publisher via Net Galley. My opinion are my own and I was not compensated or influenced any way for my review.
August 16, 2013
A fast paced book with different story lines that all connect at the end. It works to. The author does a good job with the characters and how they all come together. The story line about computers and codes works. She makes you feel like it is easy to follow. I really enjoyed this bookand I think most people will as well.
November 25, 2013
This book took me a couple,of chapters to get into the flow of the story but after the first two chapters the story took off on its own and although you have different story's going on through out the book they all tie in at the end do the book . Great read looking forward to reading more from this author.
April 25, 2014
This was okay. It took me something like a third of the book to really see what was going on - if I didn't have such long stretches of reading time right now and an anal need to finish all books started, I might have given up. But I did come to be interested enough in the main characters to enjoy the rest of the book.
February 18, 2014
There are 3 different points of view, which can make it a little tough to read. The book is well written and the characters are well developed. The story is had lots of twists and turns.This story is overall a good read.
February 27, 2016
Great book, Thanks for the chance to read!! Was on the edge of my seat through-out this lovely book! Looking forward to future books, xo.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews