The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

The Rook - Little, Brown and Company

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
Published January 2012

“The body you are wearing used to be mine.

So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.
She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own.
In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she ever could have imagined.” Synopsis from goodreads.com

Today is “Drop Everything and Read” Day … or for the seemingly more mature generation “Set Everything Down Gently and Read” Day. And to honour the occasion I thought I could offer you a recommendation that is worth dropping everything to read it.
The Rook is the debut of Daniel O’Malley and plunges you right into the middle of the pool. Or rather the cold rain. Myfanwy (rhymes with Tiffany, as the reader and the character are helpfully informed right at the beginning, ignoring all Welsh knowledge you might have) has no idea who she is or why she is standing in the middle of a park, in the rain, surrounded by bodies. She only has a letter telling her that a) her memory has been wiped and b) she is in mortal danger. Luckily her former self has provided her with two well-prepared options. Either leave everything behind and start new or find out what happened.
Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were offered to start with a completely clean slate as an adult with the means of a comfortable life and (almost) no danger of a guilty conscience? Myfanwy is determined to take this opportunity. Right until the moment she is attacked and her attackers suddenly crumble to the floor just from touching her.
If you think that this book is centred on an amnesiac trying to get her memory back think again. Myfanwy has provided herself with a suitcase full of letters and other OCD organisation devices to access all the information she needs, but the new Myfanwy is also resolved to own this life. Throughout the book you get to read letters and files from the old Myfanwy basically dumping information but also offering insights into who she was and what her life was like. The new consciousness in her old body seems to be her opposite in so many cases while maintaining some of her character traits. This easily leads to hilarious situations with her new/old co-workers. I for one would have loved to see everyone’s faces as the formerly meek Myfanwy suddenly stands up against her intimidating colleague during the torture/interrogation scene.
The story is clever and funny at the same time with a thrilling mystery and a supernatural twist. And it is set in London so I basically was a goner from the get go. But more than that I thoroughly enjoyed the well-paced and thought out plot. The narrator is very close to Myfanwy so you get to appreciate her wry sarcasm as well as her insecurities but does not make it a first person narration. Another layer of mystery is added by the first person style letters which offer insight into the organisation but at no point make the reader more knowledgeable than the protagonist. Well, you get a few seemingly free-floating scenes that let you guess but for me those only made me wonder more. I had my suspects and had them discounted and re-added several times throughout the book. There were a few moments where I thought problems resolved a little too neatly but the solutions never seemed implausible to the story universe.

This is an ingenious secret service story with fantastical elements that you will soon take for granted, a main character who is re-inventing herself in a completely new way while trying to save herself and the country. The Rook is a brilliant debut with a promising universe that I hope to get to see more from at some point. In the meantime I’ll keep an eye on @RookFiles for updates from Myfanwy.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

UK Cover - HarperCollins

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Shades of London #1
Published September 2011

“The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it’s the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.
Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn’t notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humour, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.” Synopsis from goodreads.com

US Cover - Putnam Juvenile

The setting – anyone who knows me knows that I love London and anything connected to its history so this was right up my alley. The locations are described so well that it is easy to picture London, the East End with its very own charm, and Wexford as a seemingly typical boarding school one can expect to find in England.
The characters, especially the main character Aurora (sorry, Rory), are easy to like. From the description one might expect a stereotype Southern States American teenager, but actually Rory is eager to embrace the differences she encounters in her new surroundings. For example the poor girl, instead of getting to choose her sport activity, gets thrown into a hockey team with no previous knowledge whatsoever as part of the experience. The voice she is given to narrate the story is very engaging and humorous, so hockey lessons aren't the only moments where you can expect a good laugh. I loved the description of typical British habits and how non-natives perceive them. This is equally amusing if one is part of the group with these quirks.
I take issue with protagonists who are too uncertain of themselves or act downright against every human instinct of survival unless there is a very good reason for it. At times, Rory seems to fall victim to that second category, but if you look at the situation more closely, her motivations justify her actions to a certain degree and it fits with her overall character.
You should know that The Name of the Star has no love story as its main focus. I’m fine with that and I think the story is plot-driven enough to work well with only a little of this element. Nevertheless, Rory relates to several people of her surroundings: Jazza, her roommate, is possibly as British as they come and the sort of friend who is not afraid to tell you when you need to get yourself together but will have your back no matter what. Jerome is a little bit of a mystery to me. It’s clear soon enough that he is interested in Rory but not really ambitious to do something about it. At the moment he seems a bit like a prop. I won’t go into detail about the ghost police since you are supposed to discover them yourselves. Let me just say that for a job like theirs they seem exactly whack enough to me. In a good way of course.
Now, I do realise that I didn’t really say anything about the “Jack the Ripper” part of the story, mostly because it is not only part of it but the cause behind everything. I liked how the recreation and embedding of the historical events took place in this present day scenario. The short episodes that leave Rory’s point of view were, in my opinion, exactly right to offer more information and develop the readers’ understanding of the story beyond Rory’s knowledge. The Ripper background facts seemed well-researched to me and just detailed enough to thrill but not make me want to revisit my latest meal.  I enjoyed the steady, almost imperceptible, build-up instead of being thrown from one step to another. Hats off to the unexpected hero as well, what an elegant solution.

This book surprised me, made me laugh, and my mind race at the possibilities. One major brownie point for the ending: There is no big cliff-hanger in the sense that the story arc of the Ripper mystery seems unresolved. However, there is just the right incentive to look forward to the next book, which will be The Madness Underneath hopefully published in October this year. So well done to start off a new series and I can’t wait to read the next book. The only bright spot is that I won't have to miss Maureen Johnson’s great humour and the quirkiness she brings to her writing since she frequently graces the world with her online presence. If you follow only one person on Twitter, make sure it's her or you're missing something. And read this treasure trove of a book.

Sometimes you have to see the bathroom to know the hard reality of things – UK paperback, pg. 19.