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Notorious
It is 1893. The New York City prison business is booming, and mostly because there's so much to punish. But even yet, a lot of criminals manage to slip through the cracks. Nolan Southam has lived between the cracks all his life. But cover is getting harder and harder to find, so he's located a nice place to wait out the overeager cops with a few of his accomplices. His boys. The five of them live a comfortable—if a bit hungry—life in a flat on the Lower East Side. And everything would have worked out perfectly if old friends didn't hold onto their grudges so tight.
When the boy Nolan used to share an apartment with comes to the states, he can't deny wanting to see the guy again. Who wouldn't? But after their first meeting in nine years is less than friendly, and ends with wanted ads out for him, Nolan begins to see his error. As usual, though, he's just a tiny bit late.
412 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2014
1 person want to read
About the author
Marin Townsend
2 books13 followersI am a reclusive writer often found in dark, damp rooms. I am small and fuzzy. I am actually mold.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 4, 2015
Notorious is the perfect novel to review in a coffee shop. It is, after all, written by the greatest coffee connoisseur I know. Marin Townsend also happens to be the greatest author I know, but that's beside the point.
I don't recommend starting this book if you have any social obligations coming up. Really. You will miss them, and your friends will think you don't love them anymore.
Okay. Enough procrastinating. It's just that there is so much I need to tell you about this here book. And I have a lot of feelings, so just bear with me.
In addition to not reading Notorious at least two days before a party, you'll want to invest in some good tissues. The triple-ply kind. Don't scrimp. Because you'll need them. With a plot such as this has, and the ending you won't see coming until it's beaten you with a baseball bat, you'll want something to sop up your copious tears. Please, trust me on this.
The writing style will probably always leave me in awe. This isn't just an overall great piece of literature; line by line, every word will roll around in your brain and make you wonder why you can't produce such loquacious finery on your own. Metaphors are sprinkled throughout, and visuals that bring a dead era back to life in color.
And the characters. Excuse me while I take a brief weeping break.
Put simply, they will break your heart. You've got your ringleader: Nolan the sass master and the most heartbreaking antihero I've ever met. You've got Riv, the best-developed sidekick person in all of American Literature (there's a reason he's the best). You've got Lance, poor tragic Lance. And the Montgomery brothers, Clint and Neil. Just...no. I can't write about them without needing those tissues I talked about.
And those are just the good guys.
You'll meet Porter, who is quite frankly, a psychopath. But one of the most interesting you'll meet this side of the moon. Remember Thomas Byrnes from history class? Yeah, he's there, too. An antagonist with a soul, he's probably the source of some of the best prose in the book.
Not to be outdone, the romantic pairings must have a paragraph of their own.
Nolan + Raven = Wow. Never again will there be such a couple with the power to reduce you to a crying ball of emotion. You've been warned. And Elizariv...if you don't fall in love with them, you need your heart checked. Because even though they don't take up a lot of room, they'll leave you desperate for another hit of cuteness.
Whew. Almost done. Just remembering some of the things I loved about this book makes me want to read it again. Then I remember how I reacted last time I finished: I yelled at the room. And then I threw my tablet at my bed very forcibly. And then I cried. But it was a good kind of crying, the kind I'll put myself through time and time again.
To sum up? This book is awesome. It's perfectly random. The sass is, as they say, on point. Notorious is at the top of the historical fiction game. You're in for a roller coaster ride, and it doesn't end after you close the book.
I don't recommend starting this book if you have any social obligations coming up. Really. You will miss them, and your friends will think you don't love them anymore.
Okay. Enough procrastinating. It's just that there is so much I need to tell you about this here book. And I have a lot of feelings, so just bear with me.
In addition to not reading Notorious at least two days before a party, you'll want to invest in some good tissues. The triple-ply kind. Don't scrimp. Because you'll need them. With a plot such as this has, and the ending you won't see coming until it's beaten you with a baseball bat, you'll want something to sop up your copious tears. Please, trust me on this.
The writing style will probably always leave me in awe. This isn't just an overall great piece of literature; line by line, every word will roll around in your brain and make you wonder why you can't produce such loquacious finery on your own. Metaphors are sprinkled throughout, and visuals that bring a dead era back to life in color.
And the characters. Excuse me while I take a brief weeping break.
Put simply, they will break your heart. You've got your ringleader: Nolan the sass master and the most heartbreaking antihero I've ever met. You've got Riv, the best-developed sidekick person in all of American Literature (there's a reason he's the best). You've got Lance, poor tragic Lance. And the Montgomery brothers, Clint and Neil. Just...no. I can't write about them without needing those tissues I talked about.
And those are just the good guys.
You'll meet Porter, who is quite frankly, a psychopath. But one of the most interesting you'll meet this side of the moon. Remember Thomas Byrnes from history class? Yeah, he's there, too. An antagonist with a soul, he's probably the source of some of the best prose in the book.
Not to be outdone, the romantic pairings must have a paragraph of their own.
Nolan + Raven = Wow. Never again will there be such a couple with the power to reduce you to a crying ball of emotion. You've been warned. And Elizariv...if you don't fall in love with them, you need your heart checked. Because even though they don't take up a lot of room, they'll leave you desperate for another hit of cuteness.
Whew. Almost done. Just remembering some of the things I loved about this book makes me want to read it again. Then I remember how I reacted last time I finished: I yelled at the room. And then I threw my tablet at my bed very forcibly. And then I cried. But it was a good kind of crying, the kind I'll put myself through time and time again.
To sum up? This book is awesome. It's perfectly random. The sass is, as they say, on point. Notorious is at the top of the historical fiction game. You're in for a roller coaster ride, and it doesn't end after you close the book.
January 27, 2015
This rating is entirely unbiased.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews