A Dream Within A Dream: Spectacle Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

Spectacle
Author: Jodie Lynn Zdrok
Release Date: February 12, 2019
Publisher: Tor Teen
Hardcover: 368 pages

Description:

A YA murder mystery in which a young reporter must use her supernatural visions to help track down a killer targeting the young women of Paris.

Paris, 1887.

Sixteen-year-old Nathalie Baudin writes the daily morgue column for Le Petit Journal. Her job is to summarize each day's new arrivals, a task she finds both fascinating and routine. That is, until the day she has a vision of the newest body, a young woman, being murdered--from the perspective of the murderer himself.

When the body of another woman is retrieved from the Seine days later, Paris begins to buzz with rumors that this victim may not be the last. Nathalie's search for answers sends her down a long, twisty road involving her mentally ill aunt, a brilliant but deluded scientist, and eventually into the Parisian Catacombs. As the killer continues to haunt the streets of Paris, it becomes clear that Nathalie's strange new ability may make her the only one who can discover the killer's identity--and she'll have to do it before she becomes a target herself.

Praise for SPECTACLE:

"Clever and full of murder, Jodie Lynn Zdrok's Spectacle had my eyes glued to the pages as the body count rose, and mystery stacked upon mystery as our heroine closed in on a killer who seemed miles ahead of the Parisian authorities. Fans of serial killers and criminal investigations will find much to love, and fascinating passages about morgue tours will appeal to the morbid rubbernecker in us all." ―Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Three Dark Crowns series

“With a fierce heroine, grisly 19th-century murders, and a mystery that left me on the edge of my seat, Spectacle is an immersive, Parisian, YA From Hell that I absolutely devoured!" ―Gretchen McNeil, author of Ten and #MurderTrending

"Zdrok explores the universal fascination with death, set among the darker corners of 1887 Paris, and the very idea of the morgue viewings (to which parents brought their children) is chilling...Grisly, plot driven―and very creepy. Fans of historical thrillers that invoke the enduring spirit of Jack the Ripper will have fun." ―Kirkus Reviews

“Hints of the murderer’s identity are subtly and intriguingly folded into the story, and unresolved plot threads pave the way for future cases, during which Nathalie can discover more about her powers. The blend of history, mystery, and fantasy makes this debut novel a good pick for fans of Libba Bray’s Diviners series or William Ritter’s Jackaby books." ―Booklist

“The book seamlessly brings several threads together: the mystery of the murder and the horrors of the killings themselves; the beauty, bustle, and darkness of nineteenth-century Paris (the killer’s pursuit of Nathalie through the catacombs is thrillingly described); the bizarre but historically based practices of morgue viewing and blood transfusions for magic; and the destructive nature of family secrets and their generational effects. ...the tension amps up to a gasp-worthy climax.” ―Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“Zdrok has concocted an ambitious Victorian-era story. ...Intricately plotted, the story's pace burns slow before racing ahead to set up and topple assumptions about the true identity of the Dark Artist.” ―School Library Journal

You can purchase Spectacle at the following Retailers:

Spectacle is a taut young adult historical mystery that blends both thrills and the supernatural to create something fresh for the YA genre. I'm a huge fan of mysteries and thrillers, so this was immediately on my radar. I wasn't sure what to expect and went in with a pretty open mind. What I got was surprisingly better than I thought and I enjoyed it more than I had anticipated.

The main character, Nathalie, is a very realistic female lead for the book. She has her strengths and weaknesses, like we all do, and it made connecting with her really easy right from the beginning. She's strong, determined, a loving daughter and friend, wants to do what's right and to find justice and answers to her newfound abilities. I liked getting to know Nathalie throughout the course of the book and enjoyed seeing her character change and grow as the story progressed. The plot itself was solid and intriguing, but I will admit that it took a little while for me to get really engrossed in the story. Things seemed to go too slow with too many details on unimportant details and I found my mind drifting quite a bit. As the book continues, the pace and anticipation also picks up and I found it hard to put down after that point. I wanted to know who the murderer was, why was he doing these things, and everything that concerned Nathalie. There were some twists and turns thrown in that I didn't see coming and took me by surprise, which doesn't happen often. The book is told in the third person point of view, from Nathalie's perspective. This isn't my favorite writing style and I think if the story had been written in the first person with Nathalie as the narrator, I would've been a lot more connected with her and invested in the plot as a whole. Overall, this was a great book and I definitely recommend it to fans of YA, historical fiction, mystery, thrillers, fantasy, and supernatural.

Photo Content from Jodie Lynn Zdrok

Jodie Lynn Zdrok holds two MAs in European History (Providence College, Brown University) and an MBA (Clark University). In addition to being an author, she’s a marketing professional, a freelancer, and an unapologetic Boston sports fan. She enjoys traveling, being a foodie, doing sprint triathlons, and enabling cats. She is represented by Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown, Ltd.