A Crack in Everything

A Crack in Everything
Angela Gerst
Poison Pen
2011

I admit to wanting to read this novel for the title. It's a Leonard Cohen quote that somehow rings true to me even when I don't know what it's about. Occupy, recession, Arab Spring, Libya, Syria, Sudan, eurozone crash- who can deny that there's a crack in everything? Seems like that more than ever at times. Leonard Cohen goes on to say that's how the light gets in. But that remains to be seen.

In this novel, protagonist Susan Callisto (like in Xena, Warrior Princess?) is a lawyer and election advisor for small-town candidates in Massachusetts. A shady guy with a bitchy ex-(or is she?) wife comes to her for help getting elected mayor, and long story short soon a bunch of people are dead. At the same time Susan is trying to get another guy with a troublesome wife eLected Alderman and help her oldest client keep his restaurant. Her life has kind of fallen apart since she's broken up with her cop boyfriend.

This is well-written and fairly fast paced - is it an accidental detective sub? The dialogue is hard boiled and Susan likably cynical. I enjoyed it, enjoyed the political consulant background and found it interesting and unusual. I couldn't work up much sympathy for the stiffs in question and the plot unravelling was pret unbelievable but on the whole a good read.