Synopsis:
Play the Fool tells the story of a cynical tarot card reader who seeks to uncover the truth about her friend’s mysterious death in this delightfully clever whodunit.
For Katie True, a keen gut and quick wit are just tools of the trade. After a failed attempt at adulting in Chicago, she’s back in the suburbs living a bit too close to her overbearing parents, jumping from one dead-end job to the next, and flipping through her tarot deck for guidance. Then along comes Marley.
Mysterious, worldly, and comfortable in her own skin, Marley takes a job at the mall where Katie peddles Russian tchotchkes. The two just get each other. Marley doesn’t try to fix Katie’s life or pretend to be someone she’s not, and Katie thinks that with Marley’s friendship she just might make it through this rough patch after all. So one day, having been encouraged by Marley to practice soothsaying, Katie reads tarot for someone who stumbles into her shop. But when she sneaks a glance at his phone, she finds more than just clairvoyant intel. She finds a photo. Of Marley. With a gunshot wound to the head.
The bottom falls out of Katie’s world. Her best friend is dead? Who killed her? She quickly realizes there are some things her tarot cards can’t foresee, and she must put her razor-sharp instincts to the ultimate test. But the truth has deadly consequences, and Katie’s recklessness lands her in the crossfire of a threat she never saw coming. Now Katie must use her street smarts and her inner Strength card to solve Marley’s murder–or risk losing everything.
Edition:
E-ARC provided by Net Galley
My Thoughts:
It seems like everyone always says, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” But I do. Frequently. I have bought so many books (and movies) off the strength of their covers. And admittedly, sometimes amazing covers hide not-so-amazing interiors. Sometimes it’s downright terrible in there. Thankfully this one wasn’t quite that bad. However, while that cover is a solid 9/10, the book itself hovers right around 5/10 for me. It struck me as a little too irreverent to accomplish its task. Like Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, but with waaaaaay less character development.
Don’t get me wrong – I like that kind of madcap-new-noir style of storytelling (I actually find the SP series highly entertaining). It just felt like something was missing here. I mean the basic formula is all there: black sheep of the family, doing “less” with her life than someone in the family thinks she should be, plenty of snark. But while the opening third or so of the story is pretty solid, it all sort of slowly falls apart from that point on. Honestly, the stakes don’t feel particularly high, Katie seems underdeveloped, and there is a detective introduced as a sort of love interest for her, but…he might as well not be involved at all for all the purpose he actually serves to either the story or Katie’s character development/arc.
One thing I really did enjoy though was the way that the tarot cards themselves were woven into the story. I actually thought that bit was really cleverly handled.
Rating:
Sad to say I did not love this one.
Play the Fool By Lina Chern Ballantine Books Published: March 28, 2023 ISBN: 9780593500668 Papberback, E-book 320 Pages
