Ioana's Reviews > Seven for a Secret

Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye
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really liked it
bookshelves: fiction, historical-fiction, mystery

The second installment in Lyndsay Faye's excellently detailed, historically accurate series about the founding of the police force in antebellum NYC is a story about the illegal slave trade and systematic kidnapping of free blacks to be sold to the South for profit.

Having just finished a history of the period (see New York Exposed: The Police Scandal That Shocked the Nation and Launched the Progressive Era ), I am even more impressed with Faye's attention to detail and meticulous research. Usually I find that historical mysteries stray from politics, religion, and other "controversial" topics in order to broaden their appeal, but often this is a disservice to the era of their setting, because these issues are exactly what "set the tone" of the period. Fayes understands this, and does not shy away from depicting antebellum NYC in all its corrupt, political, zealous, squalid splendor. She does not proselytize, but rather brings the story into focus through believable characters that we come to love, despite their flaws, and perhaps even despite their perpetuation of a corrupt system.

The rest of my review is basically the same as for #1, Gods of Gotham , so I will not reprint. In short, the writing is beautiful, the characterizations are a bit overdone at times, the book is definitely "genre" fiction so most likely will not appeal to all readers, and so on. BUT Faye's aesthetic is brilliant, and this series is still my ticket to a full immersion in antebellum NYC.
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Reading Progress

March 8, 2016 – Started Reading
March 16, 2016 – Shelved
March 18, 2016 – Finished Reading
March 19, 2016 – Shelved as: fiction
March 19, 2016 – Shelved as: historical-fiction
March 19, 2016 – Shelved as: mystery

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