So I realized recently that I rarely check out books from the library anymore. Oh, I check out books on building chicken coops, books on gluten-free baking, books with knitting patterns or design ideas but rarely 'reading matter', especially fiction.
And it's not that I'm not reading these things, it's that I have so much of it at home (and keeping adding to it, despite the fact that I can't keep up) that I don't need to check out books from the library.
And funny, because I used to haunt the library and take absurd amount of books home.
Yet, by chance this book jumped into my arms from the library and even though I'm reading three at home, I checked it out anyway. And on a day off from work, when I was going to treat myself to a bit of reading before my chores, I ended up reading the whole friggin' book. In a day. It was that good and that compelling -- like a good Stephen King read that's impossible to walk away from.
The book revolves around English Romanies (Gypsies) so I was a sucker for it already. The main character, Ray, is a Rom by birth by not lifestyle, having grown up a fairly ordinary English life. He goes to college and becomes a private detective.
Onto his office walks a Romany father with a missing daughter. He chooses Ray because he's a Gypsy but doesn't know Ray doesn't live 'the life'. Needing a case, Ray takes the job and gets sucked into the enormously complex life of the Romanies, despite his efforts to remain removed.
As a mystery, it avoids cliches to such an extent it doesn't feel like a mystery story. It feels like a story. And even though I deduced a crucial plot point slightly more than halfway through, I still finished the book because the telling of the story was that good.
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