The Spectacular

 

The Spectacular

By: Fiona Davis

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary:

New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion Brooks knows she should be happy. Her high school sweetheart is about to propose and sweep her off to the life everyone has always expected they’d have together: a quiet house in the suburbs, Marion staying home to raise their future children. But instead, Marion finds herself feeling trapped. So when she comes across an opportunity to audition for the famous Radio City Rockettes—the glamorous precision-dancing troupe—she jumps at the chance to exchange her predictable future for the dazzling life of a performer. 
 
Meanwhile, the city is reeling from a string of bombings orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the “Big Apple Bomber,” who has been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a yearslong manhunt, the police turn in desperation to Peter Griggs, a young doctor at a local mental hospital who espouses a radical new technique: psychological profiling. 

As both Marion and Peter find themselves unexpectedly pulled in to the police search for the bomber, Marion realizes that as much as she’s been training herself to blend in—performing in perfect unison with all the other identical Rockettes—if she hopes to catch the bomber, she’ll need to stand out and take a terrifying risk. In doing so, she may be forced to sacrifice everything she’s worked for, as well as the people she loves the most. --bn.com

Fiona Davis is one of those authors where I can go into the book blindly and know I won't be disappointed. One of those authors who's book release you anxiously count the days down to. She's the auto buy you clear your calendar for the minute you get your hands on it. In my case, you stay up far too late into the night because you couldn't stop reading. That's how it's been for me with all of her books and her latest, The Spectacular, was no exception. Once again, I was putty in her hands and loved every minute of the story she told.

The Spectacular centers around Marion Brooks. Our main character has come of age in the 1950s. She's always felt like an outsider with her father and sister, Judy. Life after their mother's death was never the same. Judy took after their father, while Marion inherited her mother's love of performing. However, Marion's dream and that of her father's couldn't be more different. He has visions of her getting married to her high school boyfriend, Nathaniel, who will work alongside her dad. Her father envisions them all living under the same roof. Nowhere in her father's vision is Marion a Rockette. And when she dares to live out her dream, he refuses to support her. 

On top of the grueling work, Marion finds out just how hard it is to achieve the illusion audiences look forward to seeing. While her father has next to nothing to do with her, she makes friends with some of the dancers. Life for everyone is brought to a screeching halt when the Big Apple Bomber sits next to Marion's sister for a performance. From the stage, Marion watches the devastation unleashed when a bomb her planted in a seat goes off. Marion's dream has now become a nightmare she blames herself for.

When the police don't seem to make any head way, Marion enlists the help of Peter, a doctor one of the city's mental hospitals. He's created something called a psychological profile- the first of it's kind. Based on information he's given, he's able to give the police a better understanding of who they've been trying to apprehend for 16 years. When they get a less than welcoming reaction from the authorities, Peter and Marion look for their guy on their own. But can they find him? And can they do it before anyone else gets hurt?

Once I started The Spectacular I was hooked. I loved every minute of the story. I loved seeing Marion choose to live the life she wants verses the life her father things she should have. I loved watching her come into her own as she navigated the unrelenting pressure that comes with being a Rockette. I especially loved all the behind the scenes history Fiona wove into the story. Watching Peter shape who the bomber would be was incredible. Watching he and Marion hunt their guy down was engrossing. Mostly, I loved seeing how seamlessly Fiona Davis has, yet again, woven fact with fiction.

If you love historical fiction, Fiona Davis is an author you want to read.