By Lisa Lutz.
I was delighted to find out there was a fifth Spellmans book, since it sounded like the series was wrapping up after book 4. But now that I've read it...well, it's not a question of it not being good, but this one's bittersweet. Okay, so was book 4, but it's...a bit sadder.
Anyway: it's been two years since we last saw the Spellman clan. David and Maggie have a baby daughter, Sydney, who David is obsessing over as a stay-at-home dad. Rae is in college and only working part-time in the family business. A new employee has been taken into the family, and it's Demetrius Merriweather, finally freed from prison six months ago. Everyone loves him and he's clearly the new favorite--especially when he cooks.
But as usual, there's mysterious cracks going on in family relations. Isabel's living with Henry, but she's avoiding him--and heck, going drinking with his mother, another fun sort of person who likes to go AWOL a lot. Rae--a girl who HATES nature--seems to have taken up environmental protest. David recently kicked Rae out of the house and neither of them will say why. Baby Sydney seems to think most objects in the house are named "banana." (Except for actual bananas, which she thinks are apples. She also hates them.) And Olivia Spellman, not a woman to like hobbies or be good at them, is suddenly taking six billion extracurricular activities to the point where she's never home. Naturally, Isabel wants to get to the bottom of these things.
On the actual work front, recent family cases involve following people (or in the case of one guy, making sure his home is intact). One target is a teenage girl in college whose parents keep insisting she's up to something, even though she seems bizarrely normal. Another guy wants his sister followed. And a rich wife wants her husband followed by Isabel--except (a) the husband is clearly getting up to Not Much and (b) the wife doesn't seem terribly interested in her husband's activities other than finding out where the hell he is. Isabel smells a rat, but when she investigates the situation, she starts having major conflict with her dad over clients, ethics, and the concept of a "Chinese wall." Isabel's not the most ethical person herself, but the results of that investigation lead her to a place where she has to take a very hard line with everyone involved in order to do the right thing and keep her job. It's a hard place, but fitting. At one point she also finds out (accidentally and SUPER AWKWARDLY) something she'd rather not have seen, and she tries to figure out how to handle that ethical conundrum as well. Oh yeah, and playing chess at Henry's request.
Something that's enjoyable in the books is when various random pairings team up. Demetrius and Anybody is enjoyable, but there's a surprise pairing with him that I won't spoil that turns out to be shocking and cute at the same time. I also enjoyed it later in the book when Maggie and Isabel were hanging out. But on the other hand, I miss seeing certain pairings together, such as Isabel and Henry (since she's avoiding him) and for that matter, Rae and Henry. It's indicated that she seems to have moved on from that best friendship, but kind of sad at the same time.
This book continues the theme of Isabel's rough growing up, as she's forced to confront her perennial lack of future interests and goals that don't involve continuing to be a PI. Everyone else is moving on with their lives, and she....doesn't. She doesn't have future visions of a home and family or fabulous career doing something else and it seems like everyone else does...so what is she going to do? If anything? I HEAR YA, ISABEL. Her joys in life are finding out secrets and taking down the occasional scheming douchebag--which as far as I'm concerned is awesome and needed and necessary. But when you are compared, or comparing yourself, to what everyone else wants and is doing, Isabel can't help but feel like a giant loser.
On the aforementioned bittersweet side of things, some of the happier events at the end of the fourth book, well... they don't last. I suppose that's not a surprise, given that life goes on, the characters in this series stay pretty realistic to their characters, character defects are likely to make things go awry, etc. But I still ended the book feeling rather sad and at a loss, even though this one's as funny as any other book and the lines dropped by the characters are both fitting and hilarious. (I'll be polite and not spoil.) I'm going to put a wee bit of a rant below the spoiler cut about this, but since My Personal Drama gets set off by it and that's probably why I feel a bit butthurt while reading this book, feel free to ignore.
Still four stars, though. I continue to enjoy how these books are put together and how the various Spellmans and adopted family members go along.
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Goddammit, Henry, why did you have to want kids?!?!?
Personal drama bit: like Isabel, I am generally not maternal. I'm not quite as bad as she is--at least I can babysit without issues-- but once I found out that was what was going to split them up, I was growling. Henry didn't seem like the sort who'd want them before--if you're 48 years old and insist on having everything perfectly neat and Just So all the time, maybe dealing with an infant isn't quite for you? But then again, Henry is normal, and normal people want a family, and there you go. I was horrified that he'd get involved with Isabel, least maternal person on the planet, knowing this all along. (Presumably.) Honestly, he thought she should have children? The woman can barely, barely take care of herself at age 34 (I really wanted him to come over and see Isabel babysit), and he thinks she should be a mother? Yikes. What the hell are you thinking? Then again, I've had this discussion myself in real life and it never goes well. When someone wants a baby, they don't care if you don't or aren't suited to the job. Ugh.
And so they are over with for good and for ever. Sigh. I sure as hell don't want Isabel to have a kid--really, anyone sane shouldn't-- but darn it, I thought Henry wasn't the sort to insist upon it. Darn it, darn it, darn it. I'm as quietly depressed as Isabel now. Okay, so they were always a couple that seemed doomed from the getgo because Isabel is Isabel, but I wouldn't have thought it was the Ultimate Dealbreaker that brought them down-- more like Isabel being a slob or something. Feh. Oh well, this is what happens when a story goes on after the "happy ending," and life doesn't go like that.
Well, at least there's hope for Rae and Fred. That one made me feel sad too, but hell, they're 21 and there's hope.
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