The Diviners by Libba Bray

Title:  The Diviners
Author:  Libba Bray
Genre:  Fantasy/Mystery/Historical/YA

Goodreads Description:

 Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.
Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.

As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.

Here's What I Thought:
This book took me a while to read, but that was due to life in general and not the book. The book starts off with an unnamed girl's birthday party where she brought out a Ouija board as a joke to liven up her party.  That is when Naughty John is introduced and he speaks of the Whore of Babylon.  The scene wasn't terrifying by any means, but it was definitely creepy.  After the party goers summon Naughty John, we find that there is an observer outside the window.  The wind.  You follow the wind through the city and into an old mansion that was once elegant and beautiful.  The wind feels the evil presence that now inhabits the house come back to life.  The wind wants to warn the people of the coming evil. But, it's just the wind, and no one listens to the wind.

This was one of the best personifications I have ever read.  For just that moment, the wind was a sentient being. It's thoughts as it was going through the old house felt as real as my own.  It's fear was almost palpable.  I wanted to draw special attention to this scene for this exact reason.  Not very many authors carry out a personification for several paragraphs, and even fewer can do such a beautiful job.  It was one of my favorite scenes.

From there, the story is told from the perspective of Evie, Theta, Henry, Sam, Jericho, Mabel, and Memphis.  Evie has the ability to read objects and see the owner's secrets.  Theta has a mysterious past with a dark secret that makes her different. Henry does not fit into the social norms of the Roarin' 20s. Sam is probably the best pick-pocket of all time due to his own unique abilities.  Jericho has a secret that he is afraid to reveal out of fear of what his friends will think.  Mabel is a normal girl with Socialist parents that are too consumed with organizing protest to pay attention to their only daughter.  Finally, Memphis was a healer who failed when it mattered most.

In a world of speakeasies, bootleggers, and flappers, a horrible string of murders has been taking place and they seem to be occult related.  Ms. Bray takes the reader on an adventure through Manhattan and down to Coney Island and even to the backwoods of upstate New York.  The story is filled with twists and turns that kept me guessing. The mystery of the murders, as well as the mysteries around the characters themselves, are unraveled a little at a time.  At the same time, a bigger mystery is beginning to unfold.  There are hints of a storm coming.  Things are happening.  The spirits are becoming restless.  The Diviners will be needed.

Ms. Bray kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire book. There were plenty of light moments to offset the dark ones.  It's technically a YA book, but murder mystery fans of all ages would find this book enjoyable.  It is obvious from the writing, that she had logged a lot of hours of research in order to create this beautiful, dark world. My only complaint is that I wish Henry and Mabel would have gotten a little more attention.

Just like any book, there is a romance that begins to form.  As of this first book, the romance is just lightly sprinkled through, rather than upfront and center-stage.  I really like this.  I don't mind romance, but I really don't care to read a romance novel.  I just hope that the future books continue to keep it as a loose story arch and it doesn't overtake the story like other authors have done with romances.

The Diviners is the first book in the series and, even with so many questions answered, I still have many, many questions that remain.  I cannot WAIT to read the second book, Lair of Dreams.  However, that must wait as I have other book commitments that I must attend to first.  I highly recommend anyone looking for a murder mystery filled with suspense to pick this one up today.

Any Thoughts?
Have you read The Diviners? Let's chat! I would love to hear what your favorite moments are! Are you more of a Sam fan or a Jericho fan?  Leave your comments below.

About The Author:

What is it about writing an author bio that gives me that deer-in-headlights feeling? It's not exactly like I'm going to say "I was born in Alabama…" and somebody's going to jump up and snarl, "Oh yeah? Prove it!" At least I hope not.

I think what gets me feeling itchy is all that emphasis on the facts of a life, while all the juicy, relevant, human oddity stuff gets left on the cutting room floor. I could tell you the facts–I lived in Texas for most of my life; I live in New York City with my husband and six-year-old son now; I have freckles and a lopsided smile; I'm allergic to penicillin.

But that doesn't really give you much insight into me. That doesn't tell you that I stuck a bead up my nose while watching TV when I was four and thought I'd have to go to the ER and have it cut out. Or that I once sang a punk version of "Que Sera Sera" onstage in New York City. Or that I made everyone call me "Bert" in ninth grade for no reason that I can think of. See what I mean?

God is in the details. So with that in mind, here is my bio. Sort of.


TEN THINGS YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME by Libba Bray

1. I lived in Texas until I was 26 years old, then I moved to New York City with $600.00 in my shoe ('cause muggers won't take it out of your shoe, y'know . . . riiiiight . . .) and a punchbowl (my grandmother's gift) under my arm. I ended up using the punchbowl box as an end table for two years.

2. My dad was a Presbyterian minister. Yes, I am one of those dreaded P.K.s–Preacher's Kids. Be afraid. Be very afraid . . .

3. The first story I ever wrote, in Mrs. McBee's 6th grade English class, was about a girl whose family is kidnapped and held hostage by a murderous lot of bank robbers who intend to kill the whole family–including the dog–until the 12-year-old heroine foils the plot and saves the day. It included colored pencil illustrations of manly-looking, bearded criminals smoking, and, oblivious to the fact that The Beatles had already sort of laid claim to the title, I called my novel, HELP. My mom still has a copy. And when I do something she doesn't like, she threatens to find it.

4. My favorite word is "redemption." I like both its meaning and the sound. My least favorite word is "maybe." "Maybe" is almost always a "no" drawn out in cruel fashion.

5. My three worst habits are overeating, self-doubt, and the frequent use of the "f" word.

6. The three things I like best about myself are my sense of humor, my ability to listen, and my imagination.

7. I have an artificial left eye. I lost my real eye in a car accident when I was eighteen. In fact, I had to have my entire face rebuilt because I smashed it up pretty good. It took six years and thirteen surgeries. However, I did have the pleasure of freezing a plastic eyeball in an ice cube, putting it in a friend's drink, ("Eyeball in your highball?") and watching him freak completely. Okay, so maybe that's not going down on my good karma record. But it sure was fun.

8. In 7th grade, my three best friends and I dressed up as KISS and walked around our neighborhood on Halloween. Man, we were such dorks.

9. I once spent New Year's Eve in a wetsuit. I'd gone to the party in a black dress that was a little too tight (too many holiday cookies) and when I went to sit down, the dress ripped up the back completely. Can we all say, mortified? The problem was, my friends were moving out of their house–everything was packed and on a truck–and there was nothing I could put on . . . but a wetsuit that they still had tacked to the wall. I spent the rest of the party maneuvering through throngs of people feeling like a giant squid.

10. I got married in Florence, Italy. My husband and I were in love but totally broke, so we eloped and got married in Italy, where he was going on a business trip. We had to pull a guy off the street to be our witness. It was incredibly romantic.

Links:
http://libbabray.com/
libbabray