New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion is over the moon to have been selected to be one of the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall’s glamorous precision-dancing troupe. It’s an honor to perform in the world’s most spectacular theater, an art deco masterpiece. But with four shows a day as well as grueling rehearsals, not to mention exacting standards of perfection to live up to, Marion quickly realizes that the life of a Rockette has both extraordinary highs and devastating lows.
Then one night a bomb explodes in the theater. It’s only the latest in a string of explosions around the city orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the "Big Apple Bomber." They have been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a yearslong manhunt, the police, at Marion’s urging, turn in desperation to a radical new technique: psychological profiling.
As Marion finds herself pulled deeper into the investigation, she realizes that as much as she’s been training herself to blend in—performing in perfect unison with all the other identical Rockettes—if she hopes to catch the bomber, she’ll need to stand out and take a terrifying risk. But she may be forced to sacrifice everything she’s worked for, as well as the people she loves the most.
❀❀
Where do I even begin? It's books like these that leave you speechless and unable to get the story out of your head. Those are my favorite kinds of books because you can always count on them to be good. I'd been reading Fiona Davis's books since 2019, so I knew it'd be good. However, the author surprised me yet again, and I became engrossed in the book to the point where I would spend my lunch break at work reading because I was curious about what would happen. I'd finish it in a few days if I wasn't working full-time and going to school full-time. Every page of this book left me wanting more. I know that it wasn’t for working full time plus full-time school, I would finish it within couple days. Every page in this book had me craving for more. I kept wondering who the "Big Apple Bomber" was. Was there a reason for the bomber's actions? The most important question of all: 'Would they ever catch the person responsible for the bombing?' The Spectacular is not the type of book where you don't wonder about the bomber's identity.
The Spectacular is a mix of historical fiction and mystery. I felt like I learned a lot just from reading the book; I found myself picturing everything that was going on. As the bombs went off, I could feel everyone's fear, as well as Marion's frustration and anger that the police were unable to catch him. Marion was my favorite character in the book, and I admired her determination. It took a lot of courage for her to defy her father's wishes and become a Rockette. I'd never heard of Rockette before reading the book, and I had no idea how hectic their schedule was. And I know that becoming a Rockette was exactly what Marion needed, even if it didn't last as long as Marion expected. I tried to like Marion's father and understand why he acted the way he did, but I just couldn't.
Marion's determination to find the bomber was admirable. I worried that she was going to kill herself at times, and I understood why she wanted to. Throughout the novel, I found myself hoping that Marion would make it out alive. I'm excited to see what the author has in store for us next. I would highly recommend this book for any historical fiction and mystery fans.
0 comments:
Post a Comment