Tournament of Books discussion

Space to discuss the 2024 TOB contender The Shamshine Blind by Paz Pardo.

I LOVED Shamshine, it was my favorite book of October, and at first I was excited to see it make the short list, but now I'm nervous to see everyone's comments since so many people were suggesting it be removed in favor of another title.

This is such a fresh new take on an alternate history - at any rate, it felt fresh to me, I've never read a book in which Argentina won against Great Britain in the Falkland Islands and was the new global super power. The author is Argentinean and so was able to add a lot of authentic little details such as the type of beer served in diners. Argentina took over Britain, and is a presence in the USA, but not an occupying force. During the war all of the major USA cities were bombed with a psychotropic substance that made these areas unlivable, so everyone moved to smaller cities like Daly City in CA, where this is set.

Pardo wrote this as a neo-noir murder mystery, and it did take me a little while to get used to some of the style, at first it felt campy and forced. I don't know if I got used to it or if her writing just became more natural later in the book.

Like a lot of noir mysteries, there are many leads that send the investigators off on tangential tasks, and it's easy to get confused and forget what the main mystery is, but that's part of the style. It is a "blind" after all - the bad guy set up one crime to cover for another one.

Nadine in NY wrote: "I LOVED Shamshine, it was my favorite book of October, and at first I was excited to see it make the short list, but now I'm nervous to see everyone's comments since so many people were suggesting ..."

I had a possibly irrational reaction to the first page - it just looked like too many words, too close together. I must have been overwhelmed by the number of library books I brought home that day (11) and lashed out at a poor, innocent book. And I love the story line. I'm going back to get it!

Nadine in California wrote: "... lashed out at a poor, innocent book. ..."


LOL btdt. I'm glad you're giving it another chance. I hope it finds some fans here.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Nadine in California wrote: "... lashed out at a poor, innocent book. ..."


LOL btdt. I'm glad you're giving it another chance. I hope it finds some fans here."

I'm going to try it on audio. If it doesn't work, I'll go back to the print, since audio depends on the narrator almost more than the book for me.

I just listened and had a blast with this! Agree the intro is a bit over written but she settles down quickly. I’m a fan of speculative fiction and noir so was I’m not a super critical reader here, just looking for entertainment on my commute, but this had some flair and philosophy beyond that. I did like listening because I liked the sarcastic inflections of the reader which brought out the noir - of note I did slow her down to 0.95.

Jenna wrote: "I just listened and had a blast with this! Agree the intro is a bit over written but she settles down quickly. I’m a fan of speculative fiction and noir so was I’m not a super critical reader here,..."

Great to hear! I love speculative noir, Ben H Winters is a favorite of mine. Also, Lauren Beukes' earlier books, esp. Zoo City

Nadine in California wrote: "I love speculative noir, Ben H Winters is a favorite of mine. Also, Lauren Beukes' earlier books, esp. Zoo City..."


I love Winters & Beukes, also (I'm reading Bridge right now!) and I loved Shamshine - you may like it a lot more when you try again

Nadine in NY wrote: "Nadine in California wrote: "I love speculative noir, Ben H Winters is a favorite of mine. Also, Lauren Beukes' earlier books, esp. Zoo City..."


I love Winters & Beukes, also (I'm reading Bridge ..."

How are you liking Bridge? I almost picked it up on Black Friday, but didn't after seeing a couple middling reviews.

Elizabeth wrote: "How are you liking Bridge? ..."


I'm about 30% of the way in, and so far I'm liking it better than her last book (Afterland). It's a page turner, it's creepy, it's confusing, it's immersive, it's weird, it's even a little bit gross at times. I like some of the characters, but I'm not really feeling it with others. I was having a hard time understanding Bridge's motivation for what she was doing, but it just suddenly became clear. I have NO idea where this is going, so it could end up feeling like a huge waste of time, or it could be amazing.

It's not as creepy as Broken Monsters (but really what COULD be that creepy??) - out of her past books, I'd say it's most similar to Moxyland in feel.

Nadine in NY wrote: It's not as creepy as Broken Monsters (but really what COULD be that creepy??) - out of her past books, I'd say it's most similar to Moxyland in feel.."

I was disappointed the Beukes later books went in directions I was too scared to follow - I have Broken Monsters, but not the courage to crack it open ;) Sounds like I might come back to her with this one.....

Nadine in California wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: It's not as creepy as Broken Monsters (but really what COULD be that creepy??) - out of her past books, I'd say it's most similar to Moxyland in feel.."

I was disappointed the ..."


I read a lot of "light" horror and Broken Monsters was beyond what I was okay with. If I had known in advance, I would have skipped that one. (COMPLETELY off topic here, but ... Stephen Graham Jones does that to me, too - I love most of his books, but every once in a while I read one that is just BEYOND gruesome, and I start to wonder if I need to stop reading his stuff.)

I stated this elsewhere but this book felt very much like a half-baked version of what Winters accomplishes in his own books. I found it hard to follow and the actual effect of each pigment to be often unclear.

Nadine in NY wrote: "Nadine in California wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: It's not as creepy as Broken Monsters (but really what COULD be that creepy??) - out of her past books, I'd say it's most similar to Moxyland in fee..."

One horror book I loved this year was Fever House by one of my favorite authors, Keith Rosson. I'm sure it would be considered 'light' horror. His first book, Smoke City blew me away to such a degree that I'll follow him anywhere.

I'm 37 minutes into the audio and I love it! Now I can't imagine why I had a problem with the print!

Nadine in California wrote: "I'm 37 minutes into the audio and I love it! Now I can't imagine why I had a problem with the print!"


phew!! I'm glad you gave it a second try!

Thought this was pretty great! The mystery/detective-ing was fairly well done, the alt-history was pretty interesting (I've never seen one with Argentina running the world) and the speculative aspect of the plot (the pigments) worked well enough. The plot does take a weird turn into screwball comedy about 2/3 in, which might throw people off.

Hmm I'm not sure I can stick with this one. I DNF'd the audio 30 minutes in a few months ago, but decided to try again now that it's on the short list. While I love books related to South America, and I see others here enjoyed this one, I'm really struggling. I can't seem to connect with the premise, the stakes, or the main character. I feel like there's nothing to latch on to. I'm at about the 2-hour mark this time, but I don't know if I can continue. :/

Lauren wrote: "Hmm I'm not sure I can stick with this one. I DNF'd the audio 30 minutes in a few months ago, but decided to try again now that it's on the short list. While I love books related to South America, ..."

I, too, am struggling with this one in audio. The narration is good, so I don’t think it’s a problem with the audio. I don’t think I’d like it better in print, though I could be wrong. I am not a fan of noir, and this one seems to move particularly slowly. The plot is pretty convoluted, and while I can follow it all, I’m finding that I don’t really care about what’s happening.

This one totally “worked” for me. The world-building/alternate reality is ambitious so the set up is a bit convoluted and slow but the payoff was worth it for me.

I pictured Stephanie Beatriz (à la Det. Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn 99) as the main character and had so much fun rooting for her. I do appreciate good noir though, so YMMV.

Theresa wrote: "This one totally “worked” for me. The world-building/alternate reality is ambitious so the set up is a bit convoluted and slow but the payoff was worth it for me.

I pictured Stephanie Beatriz (à ..."

I love the Rosa Diaz comparison! Totally agree.

Theresa wrote: "I pictured Stephanie Beatriz (à la Det. Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn 99) as the main character and had so much fun rooting for her. I do appreciate good noir though, so YMMV. ..."



LOL I think I pictured her as a lot more average, and I would have loved this book even more if I'd thought of Stephanie Beatriz!!!! And I do think that's probably the image the author was going for.

The first chapter or so is horribly over-written, with not a noun undecorated, but then the book settles down and I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

I'm not a fan of speculative fiction, but the world-building here was of one close enough to be recognizable and it was integral to the plot of the crimes. I am a fan of crime fiction. This isn't noir, but maybe noir adjacent? In any case, a fun crime caper with some interesting ideas that worked.

This will be a fun book to discuss and a hard decision as it goes up against another book I liked.

Love catching up on the discussion after finishing this one. I really enjoyed it, but for whatever reason was really annoyed with the sham marriage section. It felt like a weird side track, that yes was tied to the plot, but felt too long compared to all the other stuff that happened. But I still liked it a lot and will definitely look up her other work!

OK, you all are convincing me to keep going when I was going to throw in the proverbial towel. I am 25% in and am not wowed by this one, which has been disappointing to me, given all the love it has received here. I will solider on at least to the halfway mark and then decide if I will finish it.

Risa wrote: "OK, you all are convincing me to keep going when I was going to throw in the proverbial towel. I am 25% in and am not wowed by this one, which has been disappointing to me, given all the love it ha..."

Risa, please update if you do! I wasn’t going to read this till seeing recent comments. Now I’m tempted, but our taste is similar so if you’re not liking this I’m guessing I won’t either. (I do like Ben H. Winters, though. Not wow’d by his prose, but his stories are so fun.)

I mean, is it the best book I've ever read for the TOB? No. Is it a fairly fun detective story with some neat sci-fi elements? Yeah.

Ok, I haven't read any of the other comments since I just started this.
That being said, I live in SF and can pretty much see Daly City from my window so that element is funny to me.

Ok just finished. Meh. Found it a bit hard to pay attention to all the details and it was a bit overwritten. Like I said, I also live here so that's a bit weird, I mean, come on Daly City is just a place you drive through on the way to the airport (I kid I kid). I will probably forget about this one pretty quickly.

Audra wrote: "Ok just finished. Meh. Found it a bit hard to pay attention to all the details and it was a bit overwritten. Like I said, I also live here so that's a bit weird, I mean, come on Daly City is just a..."


but that's why it was set in Daly City! Because the more "important" and popular cities were bombed, leaving only the lesser known cities safe to live in. I thought that was a brilliant touch. I mean, who ever thinks of Daly City?? Like you say, it's a place to get through. Unless you're in an alternate history universe where places like San Francisco were bombed, so the capital moves to Boise and Daly City becomes a major metropolis ...

The thing is though, if SF is bombed out, so is Daly City.

Audra wrote: "The thing is though, if SF is bombed out, so is Daly City."


Yes you had to accept that the bombs had a finite reach and the border of livable and not livable was RIGHT THERE.

If I didn't work for the city of SF that is only suppose to service only SF but since sometimes a block can be both SF AND DC I might be able to move past it :D

I started out really liking this one and I still like the concept but it got confusing and boring to me as it went on. Detective novels aren’t really my thing but I did like how it was combined with sci fi/ alternative history. I guess I felt like I wanted more world building and it was so narrowly focused that it seemed like a miss opportunity to me.