Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Review: Revenge of the Spellmans

The third entry in Lisa Lutz's series is entitled Revenge of the Spellmans. (Best first sentence in a review everz!) This is a follow up to Curse of the Spellmans. Look at those words “revenge” and “curse.” It is not “return” or “triumph” of the Spellmans. That’s not how they operate. This is a family of private detectives (and ex-PIs) who betray, spy, distrust each other, but ultimately love each other. It’s obvious from the popularity of the series that I’m not alone in enjoying the dysfunction of the Spellmans. Yet the books can’t survive on their hilarity alone.

Revenge works in that regard for Isabel Spellman, the slacker protagonist, is bogged down with mandatory therapy sessions (with two different shrinks), being blackmailed, attempting to uncover her brother’s secret, avoiding reentering the family business and attempting to control her destructive younger sister Rae. (Best run-on sentence in a review everz!) This whole series is a lot of fun and one element I always enjoy is that Isabel seems to focus one on TV show or a set of movies. In previous books she watched a lot of Get Smart and Doctor Who. This entry she talked about the classic Pink Panther movies. Further proof Lisa Lutz may be writing this series with me in mind. Thanks again Lisa.  

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