theft | redpillows

About the Book:

Fraternity of Fractures

Justin Sunder and Phoenix are master cat burglars and best friends until Dylan Panicosky enters their circle of hedonism and crime. Set in the blighted city of St. Louis in the ‘80s, Fraternity of Fractures is a love triangle played out in an urban setting full of nocturnal adventures, drugs, sex, and danger, with all the players fractured in their own way.

My Thoughts:

This is a rather dark story that delves into the minds of people and shows us the ways of criminals. The author portrays crime as an art, describing it with great care and attention to detail.

Initially, it took me a while to get into the story as it was a little confusing. The style of writing is very different and the characters themselves, though clear about their lives are confusing. After a while, it became easier to settle into the story and follow the lives of the characters. There are a variety of character types in this story adding more color to the general mix and helping to setup the scenes.

One thing that stuck with me was the way the author played out the love triangle. It was masterfully crafted with a clear direction. The author does not beat around the bush and make it a messy affair. The focus on crime is the basis on which the rest of the plot is built and the turn of events eventually will give the reader the kind of closure that one can come to expect from this author’s style of writing.

An overall interesting experience, this story delivers what it set out to, with a mix of crime, romance and some dark humour thrown into the mix. It is from a rather different perspective having characters who are flawed just like we are, making it easy to relate to them and understand what makes them tick. Once you get used to the writing, and look past all the heavy description, the story is worth the read!

About the Book:

Art theft. Coded messages. A high-level threat.

Despite her initial disbelief, Doctor Genevieve Lenard discovers that she is the key that connects stolen works of art, ciphers and sinister threats.

Betrayed by the people who called themselves her friends, Genevieve throws herself into her insurance investigation job with autistic single-mindedness. When hacker Francine appears beaten and bloodied on her doorstep, begging for her help, Genevieve is forced to get past the hurt of her friends’ abandonment and team up with them to find the perpetrators.

Little does she know that it will take her on a journey through not one, but two twisted minds to discover the true target of their mysterious messages. It will take all her personal strength and knowledge as a nonverbal communications expert to overcome fears that could cost not only her life, but the lives of many others.

My Thoughts:

After having read the Gauguin Connection, it was imperative that I would read the next in the series. Even though I felt that the first book had some flaws that I felt existed, it felt right to read on to find out what happens to Genevieve. The story starts off with her feeling lonely and rather angry at her new friends who had supposedly deserted her. She falls back into her usual routine of work and stops talking to people once again. Everything changes when Francine turns up at her doorstep, hurt and begging for help. Genevieve is once more forced to revisit her outlook on life and people and to once again learn to trust people.

Thus follows a series of events that force Genevieve to work with the very people she had thought had abandoned her. This story though quite good, seems to be a little repetitive and many points that were already introduced about our characters are repeated again. This may deter the reader a little and make them pause for a while. However, as the story progresses, it gets better and if we overlook these small things, the story is rather interesting and well written.

For a book filled with mystery revolving around art, this is well thought out and the clues are wonderful. The connection to Dante and the coded messages are intriguing for both the characters and the reader. This is worth a read for fans of this genre. It may seem slow, but is readable even when reading with pauses.