Cross My Path by Clea Simon

 Reviewed by Jeanne

In a bleak, dystopian world, a young woman and her black cat seek to eke out a living by, as the girl puts it, “I find things. Do the needful. Locate that which is lost.  Right the wrongs, the ones I can.” It’s the mantra of her mentor, an old man who disappeared some time ago.  This time, the girl Care and the cat Blackie are approached by a man who is looking for his companion, who may have been pressed into a dangerous service, and by a woman who seeks a token left for her by Care’s mentor.  She claims he was her brother, though Care never recalled him mentioning a sister.

Blackie, our narrator, views the situation with unease. He’s a cat, but has vague memories of once being a man. Now he experiences the world through a cat’s heightened senses but that advantage is muted because of the things he’s lost: he can no longer read the papers Care pores over, for example, nor can he communicate his concerns. As far as Care knows, Blackie is an ordinary cat. He can’t tell her that he feels there’s something wrong in these new cases that she has taken on, and that he and his beloved Care may be falling into a trap.

This is the third in the Blackie and Care Feline Mystery series and presents a bit of a problem. As a reader, I found the book to be especially significant as there are some intriguing revelations about Blackie’s past; as a reviewer, I am leery of giving away anything that would lessen another reader’s enjoyment.  I think this book could be read and appreciated by someone who hadn’t read any other books in the series but those who have read the first two will find this entry to be very gratifying indeed.

There is a slight shift in tone for me. Care has been pretty much isolated from close and lasting human relationships in the previous books except for the boy she calls Tick whom she considers a younger brother and struggles to protect. There are a few other acquaintances who show up but there are no strong connections.  This time there are more points of contact, more possible friends and allies, which gave the story a more hopeful feel. Blackie is less sure that these people are to be trusted, but Care seems willing to take a leap of faith.

Also, Care has gone from being a small, insignificant waif – one street urchin of many—to a resourceful young woman whose investigations are bringing her into conflict with the larger social machine, one with a vested interest in keeping the population hooked on the addictive drug scat and willing to do anything to earn coin. Care isn’t out to bring down this remote, dark authority, but she is determined to save those she can from being trampled to death.

While each book has its own mysteries from start to finish, it’s obvious in this entry that Simon has a larger story arc going on, one more epic in scope. It’s possible that there is a specific ending in mind already, but let us hope that is far in the future.

As Dark As My Fur by Clea Simon

Reviewed by Jeanne

Since the apparent death of her mentor, young teen Carrie Wright—better known on the street as Care—has been living in the late detective’s office along with her cat, Blackie. She’s been trying to keep a low profile while eking out a living doing what he taught her: to do the needful, find the missing, locate the wrongdoer, retrieve what has been lost.  Now the other shoe has dropped, in the form of an eviction notice, and it appears even her meager shelter will soon go.

Hope arrives in the form of a job offer: a man suspects one of his workers is skimming profits and he asks Care to investigate.  When the trail leads to a decomposing body, Care finds she may have been set up.  She has only herself to depend on, or so she thinks.

In reality, she has another protector, one who would guide her away from danger and keep her fed and safe:  a small, aging black cat who once lived as a human.

The second Blackie and Care Feline Mystery is set in the same bleak landscape as the first, a once thriving city that is now weighed down by decay and dissolution. The story is narrated by Blackie, who struggles with the limitations of his feline form as he tries to guide his charge away from danger while Care stubbornly heads into the fray. He regards the child with a great deal of anxiety and more than a little pride.  She saved his life and he would return the favor, even if it means going into danger.  He worries that she is too compassionate, too naïve for this harsh world. Care eats scraps and shivers in the cold, while thuggish men lord it over the weaker denizens. Drugs, prostitution, alcohol, and despair seem to rule the streets, but Care is determined to make her own way and to rescue Tick, the boy she loves as a little brother but whom Blackie fears will cost Care her freedom—or her life.

Despite the adolescent protagonist, As Dark As My Fur isn’t a YA novel. The story is narrated by Blackie in a voice both scholarly and observant.  He is wise but not human. He sees the world in much starker terms, and worries that Care’s compassion will be her downfall in a place where ruthlessness is often the key to survival. As a cat, Blackie understands this; and yet he does remember some things from his life as a man.  He finds it frustrating that he can no longer comprehend the marks on the pages Care reads, and that he is unable to communicate warnings to her. At other times, his cat instincts are at the fore, as when he brings Care some of his kills knowing how hungry she is, only to see her turn away from his offerings. His love and devotion to the girl brings light and warmth to a dark place.

This is a darker series than I usually read, and has an almost post- apocalyptic feel.   Or it could just be any modern city where law and social services have broken down, leaving people to fight and claw their way to the top of the garbage heap. Simon does a masterful job of creating atmosphere, using Blackie’s narration to go beyond mere visual description to evoke the dark, cold feel of the city with the smell of refuse, the biting wind, and the hungers of all types that eat at the inhabitants. I had to remind myself I was walking on a treadmill, not hungry and cold in a dilapidated apartment.

Yet there is a hope in the bleakness.  Care is a brave, compassionate girl willing to take on thugs or even the system itself in order to right wrongs. She’s a fine addition to the pantheon of young, strong female characters who usually populate YA novels—Katniss Everdeen, for example—but she’s still a child in many ways. She tends to lead with her heart, which is dangerous for her but which also gives a bit of hope and light to a dark world.  

Although all the reader’s senses are called into play, it’s the visual aspect that grips my imagination.  I can almost see the book as one of those wonderful black and white film noirs, with grey looming buildings, dark alleys, and an enigmatic black cat trailing after a girl.  Hollywood, take note. 

 

Tommy the directionally challenged attempts to give the book a paw's up.

 

"I just love a book with dark, handsome hero!" ~ La Nuit

Full disclosure:  I was given a copy of the book by the author with no stipulations for any sort of review, favorable or otherwise.

Ninth Life by Clea Simon

Reviewed by Jeanne

Full disclosure: I read an early chapter of this book and was sent a free copy after publication.  I was under no obligation to review, favorably or otherwise.

Teenaged Care is living a precarious life on the streets, trying to stay away from the worst of the low-lifes who haunt the dark alleys and docks of the city.  She had been mentored by an older man who worked as a private investigator, and his death has left her all but friendless.  She looks out for Tick, a younger boy who may already be getting in too deep by running errands for dealers and other shady figures.

When she sees a stray cat in trouble, Care intervenes to save it and earns herself a feline companion. 

And not just any feline, either.  Blackie, who serves as the narrator for the book, is a shrewd judge of character, human and otherwise. He is streetwise in ways that Care is not, but is hampered in his ability to communicate his well-considered opinions.  Unlike many non-human narrators, Blackie is meticulously observant and erudite, but always with a slight remove: he is quite aware he is a cat and quite aware that a cat is both predator and prey.  He feels a kinship with the girl, who is in much the same situation though she may not realize it. He’s alarmed to realize that she is bent on finding out what happened to her former mentor.  He knows that while her youth is a definite advantage in many ways, she also has the impetuousness, the feeling of invulnerability, and the fearlessness which can lead to disaster.

And it appears that Care is well on her way to such a disaster as she persists in asking dangerous questions of ruthless people.  

While Simon’s books have always tended to have more grit than the average cozy, this book is a definite departure.  The urban setting could be post-apocalyptic or just a particularly grim inner city area peopled by scavengers: runaway children, drug addicts, prostitutes, petty criminals, and the crime lords who prey on them. What could have been unremittingly bleak is softened by Blackie’s narration. He sounds like a bit like a Victorian gentleman: not prudish, but descriptive and analytical, eschewing street slang. If Sherlock Holmes were a cat, this is the sort of cat he would be.

The book’s main strength for me is the narrator.  Blackie has a unique voice and point of view.  He reads human body language well and notices things that Care does not, but his commentary is more factual than critical.  By that I mean Simon avoids using Blackie for social commentary.  It’s a technique several mystery authors have employed with mixed results.  Having an animal comment on human foibles can be both entertaining and illuminating, but some authors turn the animal into a mouthpiece for their own political viewpoints and for me, that tends to get very old very fast. Care intrigues him; at first, it comes from obligation, but it soon turns into affection.  From his point of view, Care is half grown kitten who needs guidance.

Blackie has his own personal puzzle as well: how did he come to be nearly drowned by those ruffians? The shot seems to have erased part of his memory. He cannot remember his life before the rescue, but he is a cat and what is important is the here and now.

That’s another aspect that I appreciate: we never lose sight of the fact that he is a cat.  His senses are more acute, his reflexes quicker. His size allows him to slip into and out of places a human cannot. But he doesn’t have brute strength nor can he read.  His paws aren’t hands.  He’s an older cat, and age is taking a toll but he doesn’t mourn his lost youth. Again, he lives in the NOW, not in the past or future.

I would recommend the book on the basis of the narrator alone, but Simon has also constructed some interesting mysteries along the way.  The conclusion is very satisfying, and leaves readers poised for more to come. Best of all, the book avoids what I refer to as “First In Series Syndrome” in which an author tries to pack in a lot of background before ever getting around to a plot or characterization. A cool, clever read with heart, just like Blackie himself.