What I'm Reading: Vodka Neat

Vodka Neat was one of two bagfuls of books I picked up at The Strand in NYC a couple of years ago. It was on their curbside discount shelving, full of ARCs from all the New York publishing houses, Dan Brown novels, and other literary dross no one ever wants. The title alone was enough to make me want it, and the price ($1) was equally encouraging. What sold me was the beginning of the dust jacket summary:

HER MOTTO:
COURAGE WITHOUT EQUAL
TRUTH WITHOUT BULLSHIT
VODKA WITHOUT TONIC

How could I say no to that? Vodka Neat went home with me and stayed on my shelf for the next two years. I didn't start reading it until yesterday. One of my goals on my 101 in 1001 list is to read at least three books I've owned for over a year but haven't finished yet, and this seemed as good a place to start as any.

Blundy's writing is surprisingly crisp and to the point. Truth without bullshit indeed! Coming off the heels of some misadventures into chick lit, I was surprised at how fun and readable this was.

Vodka Neat is marketed as a thriller, which is not a genre I usually read. I don't know how to compare to others of the genre, but it isn't particularly thrilling. Yet. (After only four chapters.) Which isn't to say it isn't good, because it is, but so far it seems like "mystery" might be a better fit. I've been picking it up and putting it down periodically. It's not really action-packed enough for it to be a real page-turner; it's more a pleasant diversion. My only real complaint is that sometimes the timeline is disorienting; Faith (the protagonist) slips into flashbacks pretty readily and it's hard to get a sense of exactly how long ago these things happened.

Faith was in Moscow in 1989, age 19, with her Russian husband Dmitri. After a drunken night out, she stumbles home and catches sight of a crime scene, a gruesome ax-wielded double-homocide. Her husband leaves her, and Faith leaves Russia.

Fifteen years later, Faith is a foreign news correspondent on assignment to Moscow. Immediately upon arrival she's hauled off by police who claim she's their number one suspect in this Cold War-era crime. Let go after a brief questioning, she sets off to find her now-committed husband and figure out just what happened.