I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Westside by W.M. Akers Published by Harper Voyager on May 7 2019
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 304
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A weird and wonderful, multi-layered story with a tough-as-nails heroine, this delightful fantasy offers up plenty of mysteries, both big and small.
“I answer little questions. Those impossible puzzles that burrow into our brains like splinters and keep us awake at night. I solve the mysteries that spoil marriages, ruin friendships, and curdle joy. A murder is a dull thing. It simply ends a life. Tiny mysteries destroy us.”
Getting a hold of a review copy of Westside proved to be challenging, but I’m so glad everything finally came together, because I enjoyed this book immensely! This is Akers’ debut novel, but it turns out he’s also an experienced playwright, and that experience really shines through.
Westside is a strange, quirky and unexpectedly violent story that takes place in an alternate version of 1921 New York City. In Akers’ Manhattan, the city is divided into the Westside and the Eastside by a fence, put up after a rash of mysterious disappearances on the Westside threw the city into turmoil. Now the Westside is home to those who are willing to put up with its peculiarities. People continue to disappear on this side of the fence, as do objects. Buildings crumble and even disappear completely in the middle of the night, appliances have stopped working, and even guns no longer fire. In the middle of this slow-building chaos lives Gilda Carr, a woman who has lost both parents to the Westside and now works as a private detective of sorts, solving “tiny mysteries.” Unable to afford to live on the more affluent Eastside, Gilda is content to stay in her family townhouse alongside her close friend Hellida, who lives in the apartment next door.
When the story begins, Gilda has taken on the job of finding a lost glove, misplaced by one Edith Copeland during a night of drinking and frivolity. Finding a lost glove is exactly the kind of tiny mystery that Gilda loves to solve, but as her investigation leads her from the Eastside to the seedier parts of the city, she finds herself in the middle of a much larger mystery involving smuggling, illegal moonshine and even murder. As Gilda dives deeper down the rabbit hole that is the Westside, she discovers the answers to all her questions, including the ultimate mystery: why is the Westside slowly dying? A tear in reality, secret tunnels full of shadow monsters, and an alternate New York all play parts in Gilda’s dangerous adventure.
One of the joys of reading this book is solving the mysteries alongside Gilda. Strange things are happening on the Westside that can’t be explained. The banister in Gilda’s house disappears one day, as if it had never been there. Her neighbor Hellida wakes up to find her coffee pot is simply gone. And then there are the missing people, gone without a trace in the middle of the night. For this reason it’s considered foolish to go out after dark, and so Westsiders are prone to staying inside at night. Luckily there is a reason for all these odd disappearances, although it does take most of the book before Gilda discovers the truth.
There are a lot of characters in this story, but despite that fact, Akers does a great job of making most of them feel three-dimensional. Gilda in particular was wonderfully drawn, a short-statured woman with a huge personality who practically leaps off the page. Gilda is fierce and plucky, ruthless at times and always brave. I have to admit, though, that I didn’t always like her. Despite her undying loyalty to her friends, she has a mean streak that showed itself in sudden bursts of violence. But living on the Westside, she’s been forced to cope with so much loss and danger that I had to forgive her for those moments. Her rough personality is tempered by her heartbreak over her missing father, a detective who simply disappeared without a trace one day. I also loved her interactions with her friend Hellida, a woman who used to be her nanny long ago and now rents the apartment next door to Gilda. The two women are wonderfully supportive of each other, and when they are tragically separated at one point in the story, I just about lost it.
Other memorable characters include Cherub, a young man who is part of a Westside street gang called the One-Eyed Cats, one of Gilda’s oldest friends; Andrea “Barbie” Barbarossa, the “moonshine queen of New York City” who sells rotgut liquor out of the basement of a church; and Glen-Richard Van Alen, the undisputed ruler of the upper part of the Westside, a man known as the Firecracker who has armed his followers with guns, guns that didn’t work on the Westside until recently and now pose a huge threat.
Akers adds some wonderfully poignant, emotional moments to his story, which is one reason I loved this so much. What could have devolved into a farcical action story is elevated by small—tiny, even!—moments that made me smile. For example, there is a running thread through the story of Gilda’s love of baseball. She spent hours as a child going to Giants games with her father, and she continues to study baseball stats as a way of keeping his memory alive. There is also the mystery of a song that one of the characters’ can’t get out of his head. No one seems to know the name of the song, but Gilda takes on the grueling task of finding out, another thread that winds its way through the story and is tied up neatly at the end. Even the mystery of the missing glove is resolved, bringing the story full circle.
We’re also drawn into the pain Gilda still feels over the disappearance of her father, yet another mystery that has never been solved. Victor Carr, despite being absent from the story, looms large in Gilda’s memories, and so the reader also feels terrible about his loss. Akers gives us plenty of backstory, telling of his rise to fame with the NYPD, only to fall after he fails to solve the case of a missing girl. His story is part of why Gilda is drawn to mysteries in the first place, and it makes for a wonderful way to connect the two characters together.
With a huge cast of characters and a multitude of side plots going on, the plot of Westside becomes convoluted and overstuffed at times, especially in the second half when Gilda’s hunt for the glove uncovers a much bigger mystery. It felt at times as though the sheer amount of story elements was just too big for the author to handle, and it was during these moments that I lost the thread of the plot. But this is my only complaint. Akers eventually corrals all the disparate parts, and it’s a testament to his writing skills that he’s able to juggle so many things at the same time.
The story ends with a perfect, emotional scene that had me grinning from ear to ear. I loved Westside, and if you also have a penchant for beautifully written, intricately plotted stories with a touch of the weird, filled with larger-than-life characters, I urge you to read this book.
With thanks to NetGalley, Edelweiss, Goodreads, the author and the publisher for multiple review copies. My cup runneth over!
This does sound really interesting!
It was, it had such a great mix of different elements.
I’ve been hoping you would do a review of this one! It sounds wonderfully nuanced. I’ll definitely have to check it out. Besides I really love anything Depression era. Great review Tammy!
Thanks Sarah, I really loved this book. It’s not perfect but there are so many things he does really well.
I can’t wait to get to this one now. And I really need to meet this Barbie character. She sounds like a blast. However, a world where little things disappear here and there would probably drive me mad and I know my car keys would be the first to go!
Ha ha I know what you mean! My car keys are already disappearing at random times, it makes you wonder….
This one sounds like so much fun, Tammy! I love how strong the main character sounds and love a touch of the weird! Fantastic review!
Thanks Jennifer, I had a blast reading this:-)
this might be a good one for me. I like the genre and love a tough female protagonist. Thanks for the wonderful review.
Laura Thomas recently posted…Review and Giveaway ~ The High Court by Chris Ledbetter
Thanks Laura, it was a lot of fun:-)
Beautiful review as always, Tammy! I got this queued up to read soon as well and after such a stellar review, my expectations just sky-rocketed! Can’t wait! 😀
Lashaan Balasingam recently posted…Hellblazer: Original Sins by Jamie Delano
I’m curious to hear your thoughts, Lashaan!
I’ve been curious about this one, but have to admit it doesn’t necessarily sound like I would enjoy it as much as you did. Weird and larger than life characters, and mystery are all things that might work OK for me, but are often things that I wind up not caring for
Lisa @TenaciousReader recently posted…Review: A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay
I can see how some of these elements might not be your favorites. The plot sort of veers off in several directions near the end and it was a little too much, but overall I loved it.
I remember seeing something in the description of this book that made me a little nervous to try it, maybe it was like a blurb comparing it to Gaiman or something, which made me think it might be too weird for me. The strangeness of it still makes me unsure, but I do like your description of the unexpectedly dark side of it, and also curious about the ending scene which made you so happy!
Knowing your preference for books I don’t think you’d like this as much as I did. There is a chaotic side to it that might turn off some readers.
This sounds so good – I love a bit of weirdness, and the era it’s set in appeals to me too. Add some great characters and I think it’s one I’d really enjoy. Great review 🙂
Pages and Tea recently posted…Reading Review: April 2019
The era was a lot of fun, and he used some historical events in his story which made it feel authentic.
That does sound like a strange and chaotic place to live! “Tiny mysteries,” that’s so fun lol. Sounds like it really gets interesting as you get deeper into the story and start finding out the truth, and how wonderful that’s it all so well-written with great characters and emotion too!
Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…Graphic Novel Review: Letters for Lucardo Vol. 2 by Otava Heikkilä
The writing is sooo good, and that goes a long way with me and how much I enjoy a particular book:-)
This one has been on my radar because I love the idea of the alternate NYC setting and the time period. I’m glad to hear it was such a great read for you.
Suzanne @ The Bookish Libra recently posted…Review: PRIDE, PREJUDICE, AND OTHER FLAVORS by Sonali Dev
It was a lot of fun, and a unique idea!
This absolutely sounds like something I want to read! What a great review, Tammy. I hadn’t heard of this or anything, so a big fat thank you, coz now I’m on it! 😀
Thanks Mayri, I hope you get the chance to read it:-)
This alternate world fantasy sounds very intriguing, and I like the idea of a plucky heroine with a dark side, since I probably would like her less if she were perfect… 🙂
Maddalena@Spaceandsorcery recently posted…Review: ABANDONED (Donovan Trilogy #2), by W. Michael Gear
I feel that way too, a perfect heroine is never as interesting as one with faults:-)
I can’t wait to start this one – hopefully next week.
Lynn 😀
Hope you enjoy!
This sounds like a book with a lot of personality! Glad you were able to get a copy for review and that you ended up loving it so much! 🙂
I would love to read Westside! Thank you for your review.
This sounds like a fantastic book! You did a wonderful job describing a book that seems to be very complex–in a good way.
I’m not sure if the book or author look upon the world of the book as being an alternate version of Hell’s Kitchen, but it definitely sounds Hell’s Kitchen-ish!
The cover is cool. I wonder that it’s because he’s a playwright that he was able to manage all the moving parts.