Marie Rutkoski

Born in Illinois, Marie Rutkoski is a graduate of the University of Iowa and Harvard University. She is a professor of English literature at Brooklyn College and a New York Times bestselling author of books for children and young adults. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.

A Novel

Real Easy

Real Easy is a compulsive, tenacious, and unexpectedly hopeful thriller set in a midwestern strip club, told by New York Times bestselling author Marie Rutkoski in the spirit of Gillian Flynn and Tana French...

Lindsay

Latitude Tamarind

I received a copy of this audiobook at no cost in exchange for my honest opinion.

Well I loved THE MIDNIGHT LIE by Marie Rutkoski and this book has an intersex main character (it sounds like she has XXY chromosomes and she refers to her variation as “her syndrome” and is super embarrassed about it, but it is the 90s and I was personally not around to bake her a cake about it!) so obviously I HAD to read this. It’s absolutely incredible as a book; it’s gritty but also full of heart, it’s queer, it’s about dancers at a strip club, there’s cute kids in it who are written well. It’s ALSO a murder mystery! It’s literally all my favorite things wrapped up in a book!

HOWEVER. I don’t think you should read this on audiobook. This is a many-multiple perspectives book, and I think that it would be a lot easier to follow were it not on audiobook. I feel like at some point I stopped paying attention for thirty seconds and I lost the thread of it, and I, personally, just would have preferred to read this via print. The narrator is excellent, but she _is _the same narrator for all of the perspectives, so that didn’t help me get back into it. I ended up re-listening to a big chunk of it, which was frustrating, but this is almost certainly my problem and not something you’re likely to encounter if you read it As A Book. I think I will probably check it out of the library in print and re-read it later this year!

REAL EASY gets 4.5 stars from me.

Well I loved THE MIDNIGHT LIE by Marie Rutkoski and this book has an intersex main character (it sounds like she has XXY chromosomes and she refers to her variation as “her syndrome” and is super embarrassed about it, but it is the 90s and I was personally not around to bake her a cake about it!) so obviously I HAD to read this. It’s absolutely incredible as a book; it’s gritty but also full of heart, it’s queer, it’s about dancers at a strip club, there’s cute kids in it who are written well. It’s ALSO a murder mystery! It’s literally all my favorite things wrapped up in a book!

Read my full review here:

https://geographreads.com/2022/01/10/...

Livia

Sarahi Flores

A murder mystery book I actually devoured in 2 day tops. I enjoyed the different POV of all characters and gotten to know Who Samantha is. I actually grew fond of her and her reasons. The turn of events was also entertaining because everything was unveiling in just the right pace. It was a fast pace novel that was easy to get into despite having more than 3 POV presenting at us the readers. I enjoyed the narrator who narrated this audiobook. Kept me so intrigued and wanting more.

Dawy

As a thriller, this book hits all the marks for me, and I enjoyed the suspense with each cryptic end of the chapter. But even more, I loved how this is really a story about how misogyny creeps in to every aspect of our lives, and I found the themes of power, domination, and survival really compelling. What I didn't like as much was the sheer number of POVs we saw in the book--there were simply way too many, and I'm not sure what the purpose was. I wish there would have been fewer POVs so that I could at least get more invested in some of the characters--though at the same time, this is primarily a plot-driven, and not character-driven, story. Highly recommend for a good thriller that takes place at a strip club setting in the 1990s, that touches on misogyny and violence against women.

Content warning for domestic violence, sexual violence.

Deborah Kerr

So the issue with this book is that the really exceptional parts of it do not outweigh the mediocre parts.

Rutkowski does a beautiful job highlighting the relationships between mothers and their children, the relationships between women, and the absolute violence of existence that is being a woman. Plus there a some heart stoppingly gorgeous sentences.

The issue is all of that is weighed down an unoriginal plot, meandering narrative, and a convoluted narrative that knows exactly where it’s going but purposes bores you along the way.

It is a perfectly fine book, I’ll just never think of it again.

Kristin Boren

Patrick Baumann

Leticia Leal

'Very possibly the best crime fiction book since Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects' Neel Mukherjee Three Women meets Tana French in a compulsive, unflinching and unexpectedly hopeful thriller set in a midwestern strip club. 'Gritty, glittery and pulsing with life' Sara Sligar 'Bold, compelling, brutal and brilliant' Chris Whitaker It's 1999, and Samantha has danced for years at the Lovely Lady strip club. She's not used to taking anyone under her wing - after all, between her disapproving boyfriend and his daughter, who may as well be her own child, she has enough to worry about. But when Samantha overrides her better judgment to drive a new dancer home, they are run off the road. The police arrive at the scene of the accident - but find only one body. Georgia, another dancer, is drawn into the investigation as she tries to assist Holly, a detective with a complicated story of her own. As the point of view shifts from police officers and detectives to club patrons, the women circle around a list of suspects, all the while grappling with their own understanding of loss and love. As they get closer to the truth they must each confront a fundamental question: How do women live their lives knowing that men can hurt them?

Real Easy A Novel

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