Friday, September 21, 2012

TC Staff Are Crazy About This Book!!!


Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.




Heather says:
"The Diviners is my first experience with Libba Bray's writing (though I've been told that I must read the Gemma Doyle trilogy, which I certainly will now!), and I absolutely loved this book. When Evie causes a bit of a scandal in her boring midwestern home town, she is shipped off to her brilliant, eccentric uncle in New York City. This is nothing but good news to Evie, a free-spirited, fearless teenaged flapper, with a unique ability to 'read' people by handling objects belonging to them. She's a Diviner, but she doesn't know it  or know anyone else with a similar skill. Soon Evie and her uncle, and a growing circle of friends drawn together by loneliness and loss (and some very interesting talents), are entangled in a gruesome murder mystery, with clear signs of a connection to the occult. 1920's New York is the perfect back-drop for this zany, creepy, fast-paced thriller ? and solving a series of horrific murders is apparently only the beginning of Evie and her new found family's fight against the forces of Evil. Libba Bray's new book is a brilliantly crafted novel, and thankfully only the first of the Diviners' hair-raising adventures."

Jackie says: 
"I owe a debt to a co-worker (see above) for being relentless about convincing me to read this book--I shied away at its rather stout size, thinking of the stack of books I'd already collected.  But she made a good case, and she was 100% correct--I LOVED this book, and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Set in the 1920's in New York City, the time of speakeasies and flappers, jazz and, at least for Gemma and her uncle, murder.  Her uncle is an expert in the occult, and he is asked to help the police find the killer who had carved occult symbols into a murder victim and left her on the river's edge.  Gemma, never one to stay on the sidelines, accidentally discovers some occult powers of her own that may help her identify the killer, if he doesn't get to her first.

While technically a YA book, this is a great read for just about anyone who enjoys historic and/or atmospheric mysteries.  And the best part--this is first book in a planned series."

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