Christine mangan11/28/2023 Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook. This article was originally published in the April 2018 issue of BookPage. Readers will hope that Mangan, like Highsmith, writes a series of books about this villain, if for no other reason than to see whether the lowlife gets his or her comeuppance or slips away one more time. The miscreant isn’t all that smart or talented, but is simply ruthless in the way of a cold-blooded reptile or politician. Speaking of the book’s ending and my ensuing anger, be warned: There is not even a hint of justice prevailing. The ending will send you back to the beginning to pick up on all the clues you missed. Mangan keeps readers guessing for a surprisingly long time, but as the story goes on, it appears the truth was hiding in plain sight. Then it seems that Joseph has sinister intentions he’ll inevitably act on. Is it Alice’s miserable, sexist, condescending, unfaithful husband, John? Or is it Joseph, an oily grifter who meets Lucy when she first arrives in Tangier? Is it Alice? Is it Lucy? Is it Alice’s rich, chilly aunt?Īt first, Lucy earns some sympathy after she barges in on Alice and John like Blanche DuBois she is sure to suffer the same fate, since John is such a creep. It is best not to spoil the story and reveal the identity of the baddie. The other protagonist is her former Bennington roommate, Lucy Mason, who’s shown up out of the Mediterranean blue on the doorstep of Alice and her husband’s home. Why, Ripley even rhymes with one of the protagonists’ names: Alice Shipley. Its villain is a psychopath who would give Tom Ripley-not to mention Hannibal Lecter-pause. And that’s a good thing.Ī reader could be forgiven for imagining Tangerine as a Patricia Highsmith spinoff- Mr. The novel is a smart riff on a familiar genre, with complex protagonists and a cliché-defying love story. A novel should stir the emotions, and Tangerine, the debut novel from Christine Mangan, does just that. Mangan’s prose is evocative and specificshe brings midcentury Europe to life through sensory descriptions that conjure the sights, smells, and tastes of each iconic city.
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