Caitlin Mullen

I wanted to really like this book, and it turned out to be really good. The 1 reason it is not 5 stars is the book is overwritten. The author is an excellent writer but in a way that is the problem. There is to much going on in this book:
*How gritty, and dying and run down Atlantic City has become.
*Women- primarily prostitutes, are being murdered, some are professional dominatrixes, some are drug addicts and some have been cast off and thrown away
* A 16 year old fortune teller who has increasingly disturbing visions of the women being killed. Whose mother is no longer around and whose aunt is deeply troubled as well.
*A former art gallery worker who was wronged by her boyfriend and is now working in Atlantic City.
*A deaf mute with whole story of his own - this alone could have been a separate book.
*A lot about how hard it is to be a woman, but not nearly enough about the women themselves.
There are more subplots but you get the idea.
Talented author but she needs to reign in the storylines.… (meer)

this one is difficult to rate. I really liked the characters, the way the plot unfolded and the writing in general. reminded me of a Victorian gothic, especially the way it would change perspectives from one character to another throughout, a lot like the moonstone or one of those epistolary novels. I'd have given it a 5 and probably should, except the characterization of women upset me. I'm assuming it was intended to, but pretty much every female character chooses to sell herself? I get that the selling is supposed to be preferable to having it taken or given away only to have it be abused or unappreciated, but it got a bit hard to take. ( i know, probably the point)… (meer)