March 1, 2021
In this contemporary reenvisioning of Hamlet, caustically honest New Yorker Ben Dane mourns his recently deceased Broadway theater father, scorns his mother's quick remarriage to his uncle, and wonders what really caused his father's death. Best friend (maybe more?) Horatio Patel and Ben's former fianc�e, Lia, lend a hand. It all ends bloodily, so maybe not such a detour for Edgar nominee Faye.
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June 1, 2021
Ophelia finally gets some agency in this contemporary reboot of Hamlet--with a few characters from other Shakespearean works thrown in for good measure. When she was engaged to Benjamin Dane (the novel's Hamlet character), Lia was an alcoholic performance artist. Now, after their very bad, very final breakup, she creates flower arrangements for the Three Sisters Floral Boutique, managed by a trio of strange ladies who might well have wandered in from Macbeth and who seem to put those bouquets to magical use. Lia also finds herself appearing in Ben's dreams as he anguishes over the recent death of his father, owner of the New World's Stage Theatre, and the swift remarriage of his mother, Trudy, to brother-in-law Claude. To help him prove Dad wasn't a suicide, Ben summons his grad school buddy Horatio, who's still getting over the one-night stand with Ben that sent him scurrying back to London. The upending of gender stereotypes continues: Claude seems too much of a nonentity to be a murderer while it's increasingly apparent that smooth-as-silk Trudy will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Benjamin's philosophical ramblings, unfortunately, make it obvious that contemporary prose rarely has the savor of Shakespeare's verse, but Bardolators will enjoy the clever changes Faye rings on his storylines and characters. (Robin Goodfellow is far more sinister than he was in Midsummer Night's Dream.) Readers attracted to the book by Faye's stellar track record with historical mysteries will find she's got the same knack for wicked surprises that she demonstrated in her terrific trilogy about 19th-century NYC "copper star" Timothy Wilde (The Fatal Flame, 2015, etc.). She dishes out two fabulous plot twists: one very much in keeping with the original Hamlet, one that reveals Machiavellian hidden depths in a bloviating minor character. The ending is just as bloody as Shakespeare's and nearly as poignant. Smart and suspenseful; top-notch popular fiction.
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May 1, 2021
Readers might want to dust off their Cliffs-Notes versions of Hamlet (or a copy of the play itself!) before delving into this wildly imaginative new novel from Edgar Award nominee Faye (Gods of Gotham). The action opens not at London's Globe but in the charred remains of contemporary Manhattan's World's Stage Theatre, where Benjamin Dane, the owners' son, revisits the past in his nightly dreams. Tonight, his former lover Lia appears and warns Ben of his father's death. Jackson Dane, king of the New York theater scene, longtime husband to Trudy and brother to Claude, will soon be found dead in his bed. Toxicology indicates an overdose. Accident? Suicide? Then Trudy secretly marries Uncle Claude, and Ben starts to suspect murder. While the happy couple plan a grand reopening ceremony for the theater, Ben wallows in grief, plots revenge, and calls on his dearest friend for support. Enter Horatio Patel, patience and devotion personified, whose love for Ben will be sorely tested. Faye perfectly juxtaposes corrosive ambition, jealousy, and madness against the ineffable strength of love over distance, time, and space. VERDICT Faye first won fans with an eclectic array of historical novels revisiting Jane Eyre and Sherlock Holmes. Her exciting new work should be especially appealing to readers who were intrigued by the reimaginings of Anne Tyler, Margaret Atwood, or Jeanette Winterson for the Hogarth Press Shakespeare project.--Sally Bissell, formerly with Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Fort Myers, FL
Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from May 15, 2021
Faye's latest is not only a richly realized mash-up of mystery and fantasy, it's also a clever pastiche of Hamlet. Faye's protagonist, Ben, is an American, not a Dane, although his last name is Dane. His father, Jackson Dane, founder of the World Stage Theater, is dead, presumably a suicide, though when Ben discovers a video of his father saying that his brother, Claude, is trying to kill him, the son is convinced his father was murdered and, together with best friend, Horatio, who is gay and in love with Ben, sets out to prove it. In the meantime, Uncle Claude has, with unseemly haste, married Ben's mother, Claude's sister-in-law. But what of Ophelia? Well, Lia, Ben's ex-fianc�e is working for three weird sisters (pace, Macbeth), who are florists. Part of their circle is a malicious mischief-maker named Robin Goodfellow (hello, A Midsummer Night's Dream). The four seem to have unusual powers. But back to Ben and Horatio, who, after all, share the spotlight. Ben is brilliant (though given to popping too many pills), a master of paradox, physics, and philosophy; Horatio, an Anglo-Indian, is stalwart and faithful. Their evolving relationship is brilliantly realized, as, for that matter, is the entire book, which is, alas, ever faithful to the original, which is, remember, a tragedy. The curtain falls.
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