Book Review- Canary by Duane Swierczynski
I do love the Goodreads website though of course it does have a few things that drives me nuts.
For example, one of the top reviews of this book is “two stars” and we shouldn’t let one review by one one person define a book. That’s the nature of the site of course, there’s plenty of other ways to know if a book is for you. (This book has a pretty solid overall score and obviously I have scored some books lower than I am sure their author wanted. Like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Amazon, you have to take everything with a grain of, if not entire boxes, of salt)
I am also shocked by the number of people who call this a Young Adult book. The protagonist is a young adult- a female college student- so maybe that’s all it takes (we tend to do this in our children’s literature which seems like a major mistake) but the book doesn’t particularly feel like a YA novel in any other ways
I saw this book on one of those “recommended by staff” shelves and have enjoyed Swierczynski’s books and comics, so was glad for the reminder.
From my experience, his books are super-action packed almost ludicrously so, and I say this in the best possible ways- think Tarantino not Michael Bay
This one does not fail. It’s gripping.
If anything, this book is flawed because his characterization in here is also very good. If you read reviews, the complaints are that the set up is ridiculous. I tend to agree, but having read his other books, and reading through the finish, you have to roll with the gonzo nature.
Which is interesting because the characters are so well drawn and memorable. It’s small complaint that the book goes into a pretty wild action ride that is part complex plotting and part mindless brutal noir. The realism and relatability is fine, but it feels at odds with the excess.
I would steer most readers to Fun and Games where Swierczynski goes all in on full tilt action, but Canary has a lot to recommend it. I just feel you might be better off going in knowing what it is. The afterword suggests that it’s all based on some real stories, still this feels hyper violent at times and the ending didn’t help sell it for me. There were so much that was compelling about it, that of course I will continue to read the author’s work.