Reviews

The Girl From Nowhere by Christopher Finch, Peter Berkrot

judithdcollins's review against another edition

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4.0

The Girl From Nowhere, (An Alex Novalis Novel) written by Christopher Finch and narrated by Peter Berkrot (swoon) is a novel of intrigue, with some juicy secrets unveiled slowly and meticulously, with careful precision for a mysterious game of cat and mouse with elements of danger.

There is a stalker lose, on the streets of New York, in the late 1960s, and right before he strikes, a panicked young woman grabs a man’s hand and kisses him, a stranger to help rescue her from her plight. This man is PI, Alex Novalis, a secretive and mysterious man—specializing in art fraud.

Alex thinks it is strange as this woman is so scared and helpless and has nowhere to go, and she wants to go home with him and wants him to keep her safe and protect her. She says someone is after her, following her and suspects he wants to kill her, as she is afraid for her life.

Beautiful and sexy, who is he to deny her the pleasure (of course he is sleeping on the sofa). For now, however, the next morning, she gets dressed and winds up hanging around. He knows there is a story here and he wants to investigate further to find the reason someone is after her. However in the meantime, he will enjoy her company.

She appears sweet and innocent, yet provocative and Alex is drawn to her. He decides to keep his distance as he does not want to get involved with her until he finds out her story, as everything is mysterious.

The mysterious woman says her name is Sandy Smollett and she is trouble for Alex—a stripper, a model, and what will he find out next? She appears sweet, naive, and innocent. Maybe she is working her way through school or something. She is very secretive, and not very forthcoming about her life. However, she boldly begins to interject herself into every aspect of his life. Dinner, movies, play, TV on the sofa, etc. What is her story? Alex is mesmerized, captivated, and baffled by this girl from nowhere and now she is coming on to him in a seductive manner.

Then he is warned by so many people to stay away from her; however, is pulled in even more. The novel is written in a time of excitement, with the vibrancy of New York, its people, places, the era, and history, which adds to the fascination. The art world, the clubs, bars, sex, the rich, famous, the good, bad and the ugly of the city.

Cannot say anymore, but rest assured, you will be shocked to learn the connection and the surprise is revealed towards the second half of the book, so keep listening or reading.

A very different twist, the novel is quite engaging keeping you pulled into this intriguing and mysterious world with gangsters, art history, and other elements of the dark side.

The audiobook was captivating with Peter Berkrot, with his dynamic and mysterious voice, perfect for this chilling novel, and the main reason I chose it. A nice read to keep you awake with a jolt in between reading ARCs, while jogging, working, and traveling.

If you like surprises and books with different twists, suspense, erotic and the not so norm, or ordinary; The Girl From No Where is for you! This was my first book by Finch and look forward to reading more.

Judith D. Collins Must Read Books

missmesmerized's review against another edition

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4.0

Private eye Alex Novalis strolls along the street expecting nothing to happen when suddenly a young woman grabs his hand and tells him that she is being followed. The stalker attacks them but they can escape. Alex immediately has a crush on Sandy Smollett who looks like the girl from next door but has a lot to hide. Albeit her innocent look she works as a stripper and is well acquainted with some strange figures. Novalis is soon contacted by them, some offering him money for Sandy’s protection, others openly threatening him. The fact that they are constantly attacked, Sandy’s repeated disappearances and the unanswered question where she actually comes from do not make things easier for the private eye.

The protagonists are a strange couple who easily keep the story going on. Alex’s sometimes naive appearing behaviour with the good heart and trustfulness on the one hand is mirrored by the inscrutable girl who looks innocent but with the time reveals her dark sides and constantly lies and keeps things from her protector. It’s especially their dialogues which are entertainingly constructed and great fun to read. The plot itself offers a lot of suspense which is increasing with the time when more and more characters add to the complication of the story.

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