The Wicked City

Publisher's Summary

New York Times best-selling author Beatriz Williams re-creates the New York City of A Certain Age in this deliciously spicy adventure that mixes past and present and centers on a Jazz Age love triangle involving a rugged Prohibition agent, a saucy redheaded flapper, and a debonair Princetonian from a wealthy family.

When she discovers her husband cheating, Ella Hawthorne impulsively moves out of their SoHo loft and into a small apartment in an old Greenwich Village building. Her surprisingly attractive new neighbor, Hector, warns her to stay out of the basement at night. Tenants have reported strange noises after midnight - laughter, clinking glasses, jazz piano - even though the space has been empty for decades. Back in the Roaring '20s, the place hid a speakeasy.

In 1924, Geneva "Gin" Kelly, a smart-mouthed flapper from the hills of Western Maryland, is a regular at this Village hideaway known as the Christopher Club. Caught up in a raid, Gin becomes entangled with Prohibition enforcement agent Oliver Anson, who persuades her to help him catch her stepfather, Duke Kelly, one of Appalachia's most notorious bootleggers.

Headstrong and independent, Gin is no weak-kneed fool. So how can she be falling in love with the taciturn, straight-arrow revenue agent when she's got Princeton boy Billy Marshall, the dashing son of society doyenne Theresa Marshall, begging to make an honest woman of her? While anything goes in the Roaring '20s, Gin's adventures will shake proper Manhattan society to its foundations, exposing secrets that shock even this free-spirited redhead - secrets that will echo from Park Avenue to the hollers of her Southern hometown.

As Ella discovers more about the basement speakeasy, she becomes inspired by the spirit of her exuberant predecessor and decides to live with abandon in the wicked city, too.

©2017 Beatriz Williams (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

This is worth reading

Happily surprised by quality of this book. It is one of the best of its genre that I have read recently. Narration is excellent. Story is very good but the writing has to live up to the quality of the story. This one does!

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Enjoyable read

This was an interesting book. I wish there were more to the end of the story.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

No Ending

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Someone who does not mind leaving all of the ends loose with no recognizable climax or resolution might enjoy this book just for the audio performance.

Has The Wicked City turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

Have you listened to any of Julie McKay and Dara Rosenberg ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Wicked City?

The narration and production was excellent. I would not have cut any scenes from the presentation.

Any additional comments?

This book was excellent. That is, until the ending. There was no ending and no resolution to any of the important factors in the book. It builds you up to a suspense and mystery with a touch of the supernatural. Unfortunately, just when you thought that the mystery would be revealed and you would know what happened to the lead character from the past,, you are presented with the epilogue. I have never been so disappointed in the time I invested in this book.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great..but

Any additional comments?

I felt that after such a long book the end seem too end to fast...like a funnel. Left me wanting more questions answered. Sequel?

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Least favorite Beatriz Williams book yet

I usually absolutely love novels by this author, but I just could not enjoy this one. The narrators voice, especially Ella’s, was just terrible. I think I would’ve enjoyed the whole book more if it weren’t for her whining voice and her pointless part of the story.
Ginger’s story was a little bit more entertaining, but it was hard to understand what was going on with so many moving pieces.
Ultimately this book was just OK. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I just read it and didn’t listen to it and could’ve imagined all of the characters a different way.

Left wanting more of it connected.

The story left me wanting to see more of a connection with the stories and characters. It was ok but would not recommend

So-so

The woman reading in the present has an annoying trail to her voice. The woman reading the past is good. However, the story in the past was too descriptive. You kept wanting her to get to the point. You don't find out some small questions either.

I wished I liked this book

What disappointed you about The Wicked City?

After reading all the raving reviews, I could not purchase this book fast enough and I was so disappointed. I felt it could have been more interesting if the two story lines were more intertwined at the ending. It is almost as if the writer lost interest and just ended the book .Very disappointed.

Couldn’t stop listening.

Great story though there are a few holes. As in what about the buttons? I loved the stories and the way they go back and forth from 1998 to 1924. Geneva Rose’s story is excellent and couldn’t wait to return. Ella’s story was also great and not too far fetched. It could happen. I love how they intertwine a bit and settle at the end. Though I would like to know more of what happens to them but that is left to our imaginations.

So many squestions unanswered.

Loved the Ginger story but so many plot questions left unanswered. the Ella story is completely unnecessary.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful