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Infamous
Fall 2015
Having slipped out of Sing Sing and reacquianted himself with freedom, Nolan begins searching for a way out of town not just to avoid the cops, but to find Raven. In the process, he and the boys encounter Bradley Keys, a self-proclaimed assassin who promises to sneak them out of town without the cops’ knowledge.
Desperate to get away from the cops and his own mind, Nolan takes the offer, hops a train, and realizes only after the fact that Bradley is a part of something much bigger than he'd at first suspected. Backed into a corner, he falls in with a group of art thieves and only manages to entangle himself further in a mess of crime he really ought not be in at a time like this.
465 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2015
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 of 1 review
February 23, 2016
So. First of all, many MANY thanks to the author for a) finishing a draft that was deemed worthy of me reading, and b) for sending said draft to me for perusal.
Infamous, the long-awaited sequel to Notorious, picks up exactly where the first book left off, and in case you haven't read the first book, I won't say what exactly it opens on. Suffice it to say, if you care about Nolan Southam anywhere in your being, it will be painful.
Basically, if you care about Nolan Southam anywhere in your being, this entire book will be painful. Primarily, I believe, because Marin Townsend has a sick need to torture her characters. That being said, reading their gut-wrenchingly painful character arcs is great fun.
On that note, I cannot stress enough Marin's ability to create characters that you would swear are actual people. There is no such thing as a superficial flaw to her. Banish the thought of ever finding a Mary Sue in her work. These characters grow. They develop. They adapt to their surroundings, and interact with each other, in the most realistic of ways. They appear to have, not three, but four or five dimensions.
Something unique about Infamous is its depiction of Victorian-era mental illness, mostly in the character of Nolan, but also in others (for example, Porter and also, I suspect, Neil). The concept of mental illness was only just beginning to emerge in the 1890s, so those who had one were either institutionalized, or they found a darn good way to keep it out of public view. And if they managed to do the latter, it was often at the expense of great effort. History lesson aside, Infamous offers an interesting study on what happens when mental illnesses--in Nolan's case, childhood PTSD--are suppressed. Townsend doesn't spend forever preaching (unlike this review), but the events in Infamous serve to illustrate the tragic consequences that can result from leaving a mind uncared-for.
Bottom line: Read it. Read it now. Because even though you will cry buckets and buckets, it will be beautiful.
Seventeen stars out of five.
Infamous, the long-awaited sequel to Notorious, picks up exactly where the first book left off, and in case you haven't read the first book, I won't say what exactly it opens on. Suffice it to say, if you care about Nolan Southam anywhere in your being, it will be painful.
Basically, if you care about Nolan Southam anywhere in your being, this entire book will be painful. Primarily, I believe, because Marin Townsend has a sick need to torture her characters. That being said, reading their gut-wrenchingly painful character arcs is great fun.
On that note, I cannot stress enough Marin's ability to create characters that you would swear are actual people. There is no such thing as a superficial flaw to her. Banish the thought of ever finding a Mary Sue in her work. These characters grow. They develop. They adapt to their surroundings, and interact with each other, in the most realistic of ways. They appear to have, not three, but four or five dimensions.
Something unique about Infamous is its depiction of Victorian-era mental illness, mostly in the character of Nolan, but also in others (for example, Porter and also, I suspect, Neil). The concept of mental illness was only just beginning to emerge in the 1890s, so those who had one were either institutionalized, or they found a darn good way to keep it out of public view. And if they managed to do the latter, it was often at the expense of great effort. History lesson aside, Infamous offers an interesting study on what happens when mental illnesses--in Nolan's case, childhood PTSD--are suppressed. Townsend doesn't spend forever preaching (unlike this review), but the events in Infamous serve to illustrate the tragic consequences that can result from leaving a mind uncared-for.
Bottom line: Read it. Read it now. Because even though you will cry buckets and buckets, it will be beautiful.
Seventeen stars out of five.
Displaying 1 of 1 review