You can’t get much different from
the author’s last bestseller Room.
Jenny Bonnet is a cross-dressing, hell raising, straight talking, frog
catcher in San Francisco. One day she
runs into Blanche Beunon, highly desired burlesque dancer, with her high
wheeler. The two women strike an almost
instantaneous friendship, much to the surprise of Blanche. After meeting Jenny, Blanche’s life is turned
upside down. She takes her young son out
of care, quits her job and leaves her man; each decision coming with
consequences not immediately apparent.
The friends are only together for a few short weeks when disaster
strikes. Jenny is shot and killed while
sharing a hotel room with Blanche outside the city. Who killed Jenny? Did they mean to kill Blanche? Why?
While the main storyline revolves
around solving Jenny’s murder the pasts of both characters play a large role in
the narrative. If you are not a fan of
stories that jump back and forth in time, you may not like this book. There is a lot of past, far past and present
scenes that go back and forth at a fast pace.
It is a wonderful way to tell the story, but at times it is a little
confusing.
I really enjoyed this book on audio,
the accents are clear and the songs are actually sung by the reader. I have to admit I’m not sure how much I would
have liked the book if I read it. The
storytelling added a lot of color and depth to the story that I’m not sure the
words alone would have conveyed.
