The Other Typist
By Suzanne Rindell
Putnam May 2013
357 pages
From the library
Rose Baker is a woman living in two very different worlds. She is a prim, reserved young woman who believes completely in morality and manners. But she spends her days working as a typist at the police station, taking down the brutal confessions of thieves, rapists, and murderers. Her precariously balanced life is completely thrown off balance by the arrival of a new typist -a captivating girl named Odalie. Odalie leads a different sort of double life - work in a police precinct by day, party in speakeasies at night. As Odalie draws Rose into her extravagant life, Rose realizes that her stories do not quite add up. Who is this girl and can Rose trust her?
Suzanne Rindell writes in the afterword that she attempted to capture some of the feel of F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece The Great Gatsby. She is very successful on that front. She truly makes you see each of the locales that her characters spend time in - a busy police station, a refined country home, and a boisterous underground speakeasy. The book is a study in contrasts - the impoverished religious upbringing of Rose and the opulent life of Odalie, characters who record crime by day and participate in that same crime at night, and women who focus on their feminine appearance and mannerisms amid tough and manly policemen. Rindell writes very strong atmosphere and it is one of the largest strengths of this novel.
I think my issue with this novel was the predictability. From the beginning of the story, Rose intimates that this is not a story with a happy ending and that things do not go well between Rose and Odalie. We also get the feeling that she might not be the most reliable of narrators. Perhaps I have just read too many books this year with a woman who is not quite what she seems, like Parlor Games and The Lifeboat. It was easy for me to figure out what the big ending would be - we've all read at least one book this year with a big shock in the last few pages. It seems like every other author is trying to take part in the trend of writing a book with the most shocking twist. The Other Typist felt like one more in the bunch, albeit one with some very strong writing.
Sometimes when you read a book, timing is key. I think I'm suffering from some Gone Girl style burnout. I'm going to put the twisty books with crazy endings on the back burner for a bit. What did you think, readers? Did you stay up all night to finish this thriller or have the sinking feeling you had read this story before?
Suzanne Rindell writes in the afterword that she attempted to capture some of the feel of F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece The Great Gatsby. She is very successful on that front. She truly makes you see each of the locales that her characters spend time in - a busy police station, a refined country home, and a boisterous underground speakeasy. The book is a study in contrasts - the impoverished religious upbringing of Rose and the opulent life of Odalie, characters who record crime by day and participate in that same crime at night, and women who focus on their feminine appearance and mannerisms amid tough and manly policemen. Rindell writes very strong atmosphere and it is one of the largest strengths of this novel.
I think my issue with this novel was the predictability. From the beginning of the story, Rose intimates that this is not a story with a happy ending and that things do not go well between Rose and Odalie. We also get the feeling that she might not be the most reliable of narrators. Perhaps I have just read too many books this year with a woman who is not quite what she seems, like Parlor Games and The Lifeboat. It was easy for me to figure out what the big ending would be - we've all read at least one book this year with a big shock in the last few pages. It seems like every other author is trying to take part in the trend of writing a book with the most shocking twist. The Other Typist felt like one more in the bunch, albeit one with some very strong writing.
Sometimes when you read a book, timing is key. I think I'm suffering from some Gone Girl style burnout. I'm going to put the twisty books with crazy endings on the back burner for a bit. What did you think, readers? Did you stay up all night to finish this thriller or have the sinking feeling you had read this story before?
