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kathydavie's review
3.0
Who knew? Turns out this is the third installment in the Madeline Dare…um, police procedural? series with this story set in New York City in 1990. I hadn't realized this was part of a series. To be honest, I can't imagine why anyone would want to read more about Madeline as I found her whiny and immature. I want to say it's a mystery, but it's not. The only mystery was who the boy was and that was quickly determined. It certainly was a no-brainer as to who did it.
My Take
What it is, is a fictional account of a woman at odds with her heritage, a clear view of the class she belongs to without the money to back her being in it, a clear if somewhat idealistic view of the world, and a strong sense of poor-me self. It's when Madeline finds the skeleton of a little boy, the ribs bashed in, in an old and neglected family cemetery in the middle of New York City that triggers her thoughts on how people treat each other and brings back memories of her childhood. It is a great example of how to avoid the dreaded info dump.
The start is a crack-up and a very dramatic introduction to Madeline's views on a class of society that is incredibly self-indulgent with an overweening sense of entitlement.
There are bits of fun in Invisible Boy, but mostly it's a descent into the daughters' resignation about their mother's attitude and lifestyle choices; their repressed frustration over their parents and the lack of money growing up; their anger and disbelief over the over-entitled class to which they, technically, belong; and, Madeline's frustration over social services, family stupidity, and the justice system.
It's also an exploration of liberal versus conservative. It's funny in some respects and incredibly angry-fying in others. Yes, I made that word up, and it's how I feel. Christoph and his employees are, ugh, such Neanderthals about anyone outside their class who embrace a different point of view, and they believe women have their place. So condescending.
Be warned, there's plenty of swearing in this. Makes me look a piker in the blue language department. And it doesn't impress me. The language sounds overworked, more like she's cussing for effect, right along with her family and coworkers. And for all the poor-mouthing she does, Madeline and her friends sure do eat out a lot.
I can't blame Madeline for her attitude to the rich bitches who obsess about their food intake while popping pills to deal with their boredom. I wanna tell 'em to get a life. Do something meaningful. And yet I don't see Madeline doing anything meaningful until she discovers Teddy's skeleton. She's more concerned about her soap box than reality as Dean points out later in the story.
The numbers about missing people and murders are grim. The truth about who does most of the abuse to children is worse: people not related to the child but who live in the house. Stepfathers and -mothers, boyfriends or girlfriends of the biological parent. Oh, stranger-danger still exists, but it's minuscule compared to "trusted ones".
It's a bit odd that Madeline was so concerned about protecting children even when she was a kid but never knew about what happened to her younger sister. It's sad that women and children were being abused back when she was a child; it's sadder still that it still goes on. And for all her protectiveness, she's clueless and unable to step up to help her friend, Astrid. God knows there were enough signals.
I don't buy the interaction between Maddie and Skwarecki either. I can't imagine a real cop giving away so much information or allowing so much two-way interaction. As much as I'd love to believe a cop would worry enough to sleep over if I were threatened — especially if he's cute, ahem — it doesn't ring true.
Why is it that women can't leave a man who treats them like crap? Who treats their children like crap? I don't get that.
It's an interesting tale, even if I can't stand the main character. I think it's a real-life perspective on family and living and interacting in New York.
The Story
An interest in her family's past takes Madeline out to an abandoned family cemetery — in Queens. It's what she finds in the jungle-like growth that will take Madeline on a journey through the court system as she struggles to find justice for a sweet young boy.
The Characters
Madeline "Bunny" Dare is answering phones at The Catalog, frustrated after having been a staff writer in Syracuse. Dean Dare is her six-foot, five-inch unemployed carpenter-farmboy husband frustrated over the lack of work.
Pagan Ludlam is her younger sister and assistant photo editor at The Catalog and a flatmate along with Sue, a friend from boarding school days. Trace is their half-brother living with his dad in Oahu. Mom, Constance, is "psychocompetitive on the water" and flits from man to man. Michael was one stepfather; Pierce Capwell was another, an abusive bully when the girls were young. He despised Madeline, lucky girl. Larry McCormack, retired from the nuclear energy business, is the latest.
Cate Ludlam is a newfound cousin with her own passion: clearing a long-forgotten family cemetery in Jamaica, a middle-class neighborhood in Queens. Mrs Van Nostrad was one of the searchers with the Quakers.
Astrid "Nutty Buddy" Niro-de-Barile is/was her best friend from their boarding school days. Supposedly she's from a titled background, but they clicked back then. And had each other's backs. Antonini is an Italian boyfriend who took off for Europe, so she jumped into marriage with Christoph, her new husband who owns a company in New Jersey that imports machines from Switzerland. Madeline reckons it's tragic that her friend is "the single most exquisite human being" and brilliant. Vincent Taliaferro is Dean's boss. Camilla was their snotty fellow boarding school student.
The police
Detective Jayné Skwarecki goes beyond the call of duty and cares. Officer Fergus Albie is the "babysitter" whom I don't think has been on the job for too long.
Louise Wilson Bost is an assistant district attorney for the Borough of Queens and dresses to the nines. Kyle West, is an old friend from school and a special prosecutor in Special Victims.
Teddy Underhill was three years old the day he died. Angela is Elsie's great-granddaughter and Teddy's mother. Albert Williams is the boyfriend. Dougie and Donald are his buddies, and they were raised by Teddy's great-grandmother, Elsie Underhill. Angela's mother, Alicia, Elsie's daughter, was shot to death by her boyfriend, Butchie.
Ms. Keller, an ER nurse, was Angela's neighbor in Brooklyn; she called in on a line for mandated reporters. Marty Hetzler is Angela's attorney; Galloway is Albert's. Judge Malcolm Arthur is presiding over the trial in Queens.
One example was of "Her psycho-crackhead-lawyer boyfriend Joel Steinberg beat their illegally adopted daughter Lisa … and … [Hedda] Nussbaum didn't do a thing about it…"
The Catalog is…
…a company that sells books from publishers via telephone (this is pre-Internet days and pre-cellphone!) Yong Sun, Yumiko, Tracy, and Karen are her fellow phone order-takers. Betty is the owner's ex-wife but retains enough influence to come in and slap 'em all around. I think Granta is part of the organization, but I don't know what it does.
The Cover
The cover is appropriate with its graveyard of tombstones against a backdrop of the New York skyline. I'm guessing that the overgrown jungle that practically hid the cemetery from view wasn't tidy enough for the cover. The grays, however, are very appropriate as they suit the tone of this story. One of gloom and a depressive look at family and social services.
The title is about Teddy Underhill, the Invisible Boy while he was alive and in the newspapers after he was dead.
My Take
What it is, is a fictional account of a woman at odds with her heritage, a clear view of the class she belongs to without the money to back her being in it, a clear if somewhat idealistic view of the world, and a strong sense of poor-me self. It's when Madeline finds the skeleton of a little boy, the ribs bashed in, in an old and neglected family cemetery in the middle of New York City that triggers her thoughts on how people treat each other and brings back memories of her childhood. It is a great example of how to avoid the dreaded info dump.
The start is a crack-up and a very dramatic introduction to Madeline's views on a class of society that is incredibly self-indulgent with an overweening sense of entitlement.
"'You!' Poke. 'Need!' Poke. 'To change!" Poke-poke. 'Your goddamn attitude!' PokepokePOKEpoke.
…
'And you … need to change your goddamn medication.'"
There are bits of fun in Invisible Boy, but mostly it's a descent into the daughters' resignation about their mother's attitude and lifestyle choices; their repressed frustration over their parents and the lack of money growing up; their anger and disbelief over the over-entitled class to which they, technically, belong; and, Madeline's frustration over social services, family stupidity, and the justice system.
It's also an exploration of liberal versus conservative. It's funny in some respects and incredibly angry-fying in others. Yes, I made that word up, and it's how I feel. Christoph and his employees are, ugh, such Neanderthals about anyone outside their class who embrace a different point of view, and they believe women have their place. So condescending.
"'Jesus, Dean, you married a feminazi?'
'Beats a Republicunt.'"
Be warned, there's plenty of swearing in this. Makes me look a piker in the blue language department. And it doesn't impress me. The language sounds overworked, more like she's cussing for effect, right along with her family and coworkers. And for all the poor-mouthing she does, Madeline and her friends sure do eat out a lot.
I can't blame Madeline for her attitude to the rich bitches who obsess about their food intake while popping pills to deal with their boredom. I wanna tell 'em to get a life. Do something meaningful. And yet I don't see Madeline doing anything meaningful until she discovers Teddy's skeleton. She's more concerned about her soap box than reality as Dean points out later in the story.
The numbers about missing people and murders are grim. The truth about who does most of the abuse to children is worse: people not related to the child but who live in the house. Stepfathers and -mothers, boyfriends or girlfriends of the biological parent. Oh, stranger-danger still exists, but it's minuscule compared to "trusted ones".
"'So what did you want to be?'
'Same thing as now, Batman.'
'How's that working out?''Three more boxtops, they're mailing my cape.'
It's a bit odd that Madeline was so concerned about protecting children even when she was a kid but never knew about what happened to her younger sister. It's sad that women and children were being abused back when she was a child; it's sadder still that it still goes on. And for all her protectiveness, she's clueless and unable to step up to help her friend, Astrid. God knows there were enough signals.
"'In your non-expert opinion'
'Yes sir, in my non-expert opinion. Not least because that foliage had been untouched since the mid-nineteen fifties.'
'Despite the considerable homeless population known to camp inside the cemetery?'
'…they seemed to have done a great deal more camping than gardening.'"
I don't buy the interaction between Maddie and Skwarecki either. I can't imagine a real cop giving away so much information or allowing so much two-way interaction. As much as I'd love to believe a cop would worry enough to sleep over if I were threatened — especially if he's cute, ahem — it doesn't ring true.
Why is it that women can't leave a man who treats them like crap? Who treats their children like crap? I don't get that.
"A good marriage is when you know the other person will always make sure you have a place in the lifeboat."
It's an interesting tale, even if I can't stand the main character. I think it's a real-life perspective on family and living and interacting in New York.
The Story
An interest in her family's past takes Madeline out to an abandoned family cemetery — in Queens. It's what she finds in the jungle-like growth that will take Madeline on a journey through the court system as she struggles to find justice for a sweet young boy.
The Characters
Madeline "Bunny" Dare is answering phones at The Catalog, frustrated after having been a staff writer in Syracuse. Dean Dare is her six-foot, five-inch unemployed carpenter-farmboy husband frustrated over the lack of work.
Pagan Ludlam is her younger sister and assistant photo editor at The Catalog and a flatmate along with Sue, a friend from boarding school days. Trace is their half-brother living with his dad in Oahu. Mom, Constance, is "psychocompetitive on the water" and flits from man to man. Michael was one stepfather; Pierce Capwell was another, an abusive bully when the girls were young. He despised Madeline, lucky girl. Larry McCormack, retired from the nuclear energy business, is the latest.
Cate Ludlam is a newfound cousin with her own passion: clearing a long-forgotten family cemetery in Jamaica, a middle-class neighborhood in Queens. Mrs Van Nostrad was one of the searchers with the Quakers.
Astrid "Nutty Buddy" Niro-de-Barile is/was her best friend from their boarding school days. Supposedly she's from a titled background, but they clicked back then. And had each other's backs. Antonini is an Italian boyfriend who took off for Europe, so she jumped into marriage with Christoph, her new husband who owns a company in New Jersey that imports machines from Switzerland. Madeline reckons it's tragic that her friend is "the single most exquisite human being" and brilliant. Vincent Taliaferro is Dean's boss. Camilla was their snotty fellow boarding school student.
The police
Detective Jayné Skwarecki goes beyond the call of duty and cares. Officer Fergus Albie is the "babysitter" whom I don't think has been on the job for too long.
Louise Wilson Bost is an assistant district attorney for the Borough of Queens and dresses to the nines. Kyle West, is an old friend from school and a special prosecutor in Special Victims.
Teddy Underhill was three years old the day he died. Angela is Elsie's great-granddaughter and Teddy's mother. Albert Williams is the boyfriend. Dougie and Donald are his buddies, and they were raised by Teddy's great-grandmother, Elsie Underhill. Angela's mother, Alicia, Elsie's daughter, was shot to death by her boyfriend, Butchie.
Ms. Keller, an ER nurse, was Angela's neighbor in Brooklyn; she called in on a line for mandated reporters. Marty Hetzler is Angela's attorney; Galloway is Albert's. Judge Malcolm Arthur is presiding over the trial in Queens.
One example was of "Her psycho-crackhead-lawyer boyfriend Joel Steinberg beat their illegally adopted daughter Lisa … and … [Hedda] Nussbaum didn't do a thing about it…"
The Catalog is…
…a company that sells books from publishers via telephone (this is pre-Internet days and pre-cellphone!) Yong Sun, Yumiko, Tracy, and Karen are her fellow phone order-takers. Betty is the owner's ex-wife but retains enough influence to come in and slap 'em all around. I think Granta is part of the organization, but I don't know what it does.
The Cover
The cover is appropriate with its graveyard of tombstones against a backdrop of the New York skyline. I'm guessing that the overgrown jungle that practically hid the cemetery from view wasn't tidy enough for the cover. The grays, however, are very appropriate as they suit the tone of this story. One of gloom and a depressive look at family and social services.
The title is about Teddy Underhill, the Invisible Boy while he was alive and in the newspapers after he was dead.
chapita4's review
4.0
I hadn't read any of Ms. Read's books previously so I don't have anything to compare it to and I understand why some people struggled with it. The ending is abrupt and leaves many issues unresolved...but then that is the nature of life. I know that some of the readers found her description of the cops and prosecutors unprofessional but I found them to be human and the court scenes realistic. As someone who worked in the judicial system as a victim advocate for many years I think that her description of our legal system is sadly very accurate. We have such a long way to go in the way that we prosecute crimes against children and I found the outcome very true to life. I always cringe when there is witness intimidation in a book because people are already so hesitant to be involved in the legal system as a witness. The truth is that it is far more common in television, books and movies than it is in real life (thankfully!).
ridgewaygirl's review
3.0
Cornelia Read's first book, The Field of Darkness, told the story of Madeline Dare, failed debutante, now living with her husband in Syracuse, New York, who stumbles onto an old, unsolved murder in which a relative is mentioned and decides to solve it herself. It reads like a grown-up Nancy Drew mystery, with the heroine grasping for clues, stumbling into dangerous situations she doesn't understand and discovering too late that not everything has a happy ending.
In the sequel, The Crazy School, she and Dean have moved out to a small town where she takes a teaching job at a facility for delinquent youths. She wants to be the cool teacher; she's younger than the other faculty members and she shares cigarettes and trades profanities with her students. But it's unclear whether she's getting through to the kids or is being manipulated by one of them.
What makes Madeline Dare such a good protagonist is that she makes mistakes and misses stuff, but has a good heart. She also seems like she'd be fun to hang out with. She loses some of that approachability in Read's newest novel, Invisible Boy. Madeline's traded her out-spoken nature for brashness and one-up-manship. And since she has the author on her side, she gets all the zingers while her opposition stutters impotently. The story follows Madeline, now living in NYC, as she finds the skeleton of a child in an abandoned cemetery she's helping to clean up. The murdered child is quickly identified, as are the perpetrators. We then follow Madeline as she interacts with her family and old friends, as well as following the case of the little boy as it grinds its way slowly through the criminal justice system.
Invisible Boy is a reasonably good read, I just long for the return of the real Madeline Dare.
In the sequel, The Crazy School, she and Dean have moved out to a small town where she takes a teaching job at a facility for delinquent youths. She wants to be the cool teacher; she's younger than the other faculty members and she shares cigarettes and trades profanities with her students. But it's unclear whether she's getting through to the kids or is being manipulated by one of them.
What makes Madeline Dare such a good protagonist is that she makes mistakes and misses stuff, but has a good heart. She also seems like she'd be fun to hang out with. She loses some of that approachability in Read's newest novel, Invisible Boy. Madeline's traded her out-spoken nature for brashness and one-up-manship. And since she has the author on her side, she gets all the zingers while her opposition stutters impotently. The story follows Madeline, now living in NYC, as she finds the skeleton of a child in an abandoned cemetery she's helping to clean up. The murdered child is quickly identified, as are the perpetrators. We then follow Madeline as she interacts with her family and old friends, as well as following the case of the little boy as it grinds its way slowly through the criminal justice system.
Invisible Boy is a reasonably good read, I just long for the return of the real Madeline Dare.
bunnieslikediamonds's review
2.0
The mystery portion of this mystery is tiny. Mostly it is about the sassy, smart-assy Madeleine Read and her misadventures in Manhattan in the nineties. This time, she stumbles upon the bones of a murdered child. Lucky for her, the detective in charge is a kindred spirit who for that reason (I can't think of any other) keeps Maddie up-to-date on the investigation, thus enabling further misadventures.
I don't necessarily require a lot of sleuthing and skulking in a mystery novel, but if the story is mostly character driven, the characters should be well drawn and interesting. Madeleine Dare is supposed to be badass, but her cursing and bitching do not make it so. Mind you, I have nothing per se against cursing and bitching (I do both on occasion), but here it just comes off as uncouth and childish: "hey, look at me so sassily swearing and quipping!" We are constantly reminded of Maddie's impeccable pedigree and her family's old money, presumably in order to highlight her rebellious life choices. Although she is dismissive of her background and eats pizza just like regular folks, she is still a terrible snob and repeatedly expresses her contempt for the nouveau-riche, beacause really, how vulgar. She is occasionally very funny, but tries way too hard to be cool. There's nothing wrong with a flawed heroine (I quite liked Maddie in Read's previous books), but this one is so full of herself it's mind-boggling. For instance, her guilt over her old, old, family's slave-owning ways makes her want to stop random black people in the street and apologize. Ugh.
Those of you who get along better with Madeleine will surely enjoy this breezy mystery more.
I don't necessarily require a lot of sleuthing and skulking in a mystery novel, but if the story is mostly character driven, the characters should be well drawn and interesting. Madeleine Dare is supposed to be badass, but her cursing and bitching do not make it so. Mind you, I have nothing per se against cursing and bitching (I do both on occasion), but here it just comes off as uncouth and childish: "hey, look at me so sassily swearing and quipping!" We are constantly reminded of Maddie's impeccable pedigree and her family's old money, presumably in order to highlight her rebellious life choices. Although she is dismissive of her background and eats pizza just like regular folks, she is still a terrible snob and repeatedly expresses her contempt for the nouveau-riche, beacause really, how vulgar. She is occasionally very funny, but tries way too hard to be cool. There's nothing wrong with a flawed heroine (I quite liked Maddie in Read's previous books), but this one is so full of herself it's mind-boggling. For instance, her guilt over her old, old, family's slave-owning ways makes her want to stop random black people in the street and apologize. Ugh.
Those of you who get along better with Madeleine will surely enjoy this breezy mystery more.
tbsims's review
3.0
if sitting alone on sunday afternoon were a crayon, it would be burnt sienna.
listening to chaka khan, bronski beat...and aural jay mcinerney.
The book left me confused. What was up with astrid? did the last chapter explain why mom turned a blind eye?
listening to chaka khan, bronski beat...and aural jay mcinerney.
The book left me confused. What was up with astrid? did the last chapter explain why mom turned a blind eye?
myrdyr's review
1.0
I really enjoyed Read's first two books in this series, so I was disappointed that this one didn't measure up. Bad writing got in the way of a potentially good story. I made it to page 167 before giving up; that's when I accepted the sad fact that the writing wasn't going to improve by reading more pages.
lian_tanner's review
3.0
Cornelia Read's heroine is as snarky and appealing as ever, as are her friends. And I did enjoy this book. But ... It's an odd one, and a bit unexpected after the previous two, which were more or less straight-out thrillers with a very clear structure. This one is more of a rumination on child abuse in all its various forms, plus a bit of courtroom drama AND a bit of thriller thrown in. Put it all together and it doesn't quite work - the thriller climax happens quite a while before the end, there's an odd flashback as a final chapter, and the structure generally is unsatisfying. On top of which, it bothered me a lot that Maddy's friend Astrid was clearly having a breakdown of some sort, but Maddy did nothing to help her.
Maybe this book was something Read needed to get off her chest. Whatever the reason, I'll pick up her next book and hope that she manages to bring her various interests into a more coherent line.
Maybe this book was something Read needed to get off her chest. Whatever the reason, I'll pick up her next book and hope that she manages to bring her various interests into a more coherent line.
caitlinxmartin's review
4.0
How did I miss this author before now?
I picked this up because I liked the cover and the plot sounded like it had potential. It wasn't quite what I expected, but that's okay because it was really enjoyable. Our intrepid heroine, Madeline Dare (what a great name) is a kind of Nora Charles sort of character - very classy and sassy. I enjoyed her and her friends enormously.
The mystery at the center, the death of a small boy, isn't really a whodunit or a whydunit - it's more of a youknowwhodunitnowdealwithit. Everyone here is pretty well fleshed out and the bad guys aren't quite the bad guys that they might be seem even though they're definitely bad guys.
It's fun to watch Madeline trying to sort out her life now that she's in a phase where she's married and away from school and working and figuring out who she is as an adult. Her dilemmas are believable and her tragedies are very real.
Crisp snappy writing, good plotting, interesting characters. I'm going to find the rest of Ms. Read's books!
I picked this up because I liked the cover and the plot sounded like it had potential. It wasn't quite what I expected, but that's okay because it was really enjoyable. Our intrepid heroine, Madeline Dare (what a great name) is a kind of Nora Charles sort of character - very classy and sassy. I enjoyed her and her friends enormously.
The mystery at the center, the death of a small boy, isn't really a whodunit or a whydunit - it's more of a youknowwhodunitnowdealwithit. Everyone here is pretty well fleshed out and the bad guys aren't quite the bad guys that they might be seem even though they're definitely bad guys.
It's fun to watch Madeline trying to sort out her life now that she's in a phase where she's married and away from school and working and figuring out who she is as an adult. Her dilemmas are believable and her tragedies are very real.
Crisp snappy writing, good plotting, interesting characters. I'm going to find the rest of Ms. Read's books!
vkemp's review against another edition
4.0
Madeline Dare is back in her beloved New York after all her adventures in upstate. She and Dean are living with her sister, Pagan and another friend, Sue. Madeline is working at as a telephone operator and Dean is doing what he can to bring in a paycheck. Madeline connects with a shirt-tail relative and ends up helping her clean up an abandoned cemetery that has family connections. While she is chopping in the undergrowth, she discovers the skull and body of a small child, left there, exposed to the elements. Madeline keeps up on her white steed to fight for this mistreated and brutalized child, her indignation fired by her sister's confession of sexual abuse by one of their previous stepfathers. I adore Madeline, her humor tickles my funny bone. I have known some of the types of people she eviscerates with her rapier wit. I always recommend Cornelia Read to those who have not read her books.