What do You think about The Spellman Files (2008)?
When I started this my mind couldn't focus, so I'd erroneously took for granted it was going to be a total bore.My apologies.As a matter of fact, this was AMAZING.I wouldn't know where to begin... Let's just cut to the chase.Lisa Lutz’s “The Spellman Files" deals with this zany, dysfunctional family of private investigators, the Spellmans. When Rae - Spellmans fourteen years old daughter - goes missing, the whole family mobilizes to find out how that could happen. Rae's missing could have something to do with the case Izzy is working on, so to get a clearer view of the truth her sister Izzy delves deeper into the Spellman family's past.I'll be honest. I picked up this book just because it was highly recommended by people who liked Stehanie Plum's series. And, trust me, I can see what they have in common ---> Craziness: it runs in their families. And a Buick.However.WHY DID I LOVE THIS BOOK? My father insisted that the boys in my life were directly responsible for my juvenile-delinquent tendencies.My mother, more accurately, assumed that I was the bad influence. Spellmans constantly violate one another's privacy and blackmail each other. Isn't that pretty cool?Izzy suffers from second-child syndrome. David Spellman was born perfect. Eight pounds even, with a full head of hair and unblemished skin, he cried for a brief moment right after his birth (to let the doctor know he was breathing), then stopped abruptly, probably out of politeness.Her baby sister Rae - named after her Uncle Ray, who likes disappearing for days until Izzy and her father find him in bars or seedy motels - is an amazing kid who likes messing her relatives' lives blackmailing and spying on them. Seriously, she's the BEST.If you need a reason to convince yourself you want to read this book, here it is: RAE SPELLMAN. SHE'S QUITE A CHARACTER! SHE DESERVES EVERY STAR OF MY RATING ♥
—•Anna•
THE SPELLMAN FILES (Private Investigator, Izzy Spellman, San Francisco, Cont) – PoorLutz, Lisa – 1st bookSimon and Schuster, 2007, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9781415432392First Sentence: I duck into the parking garage hoping to escape.*** Izzy Spellman is a private investigator from a family of private investigators. Her parents sent Izzy and her brother David out on their first official surveillance when they were 12- and 14-years old respectively. Izzy eventually decides to quit the family business but is told she must take on one last case—a fifteen-year-old cold case of a young man who’d gone missing.*** I know I often complain about lack of character development, but not this time. The entire book was character development with, oh yes, a plot, as a minor secondary aspect over half-way through the book. The book starts out with some funny scenes but quickly degrades to mildly amusing and finally to downright boring as the story plays its single theme over and over. It is redundant in the extreme. I found myself not particularly liking the characters as they quickly become the poster family for the dysfunctional and the protagonist seems proud of her periods of indiscriminate sex and drugs and inability to form a relationship. The cold missing-persons case was interesting but by the time it’s introduced into the story, I found myself skipping everything else around it to find out what happened with the case. The book wasn’t awful, but I'm sorry I wasted my money on it and know I shan't read any more in the series.
—LJ
Every once in a great while I stumble across a writer who just gets it, one who possesses The Humor – that elusive knack for expressing razor-sharp wit by fusing language and wordplay with insight into human nature and the ironies surfacing in relational complexity. Lisa Lutz looms large in this category. This opening entry in her series about the Spellman family introduces a spirited line-up of family members whose San Francisco private investigation business facilitates honing inquiry skills on each other through surveillance, background checks, and tough negotiations over everything down to the most mundane of household conflicts.Rebellious Isabel suffers from second-child syndrome (I know something about that...), which is manifested through years of drug use, underwhelming academic performance, and a relatively directionless approach to life and career, especially when contrasted with the successes of her “perfect” older brother David who is a Berkeley- and Stanford-educated attorney. Their accidental baby sister Rae is named after her Uncle Ray who often lives in the family home, but who also frequents bars when not out carousing with ladies of the night or disappearing for days until finally tracked down debauching in casinos and seedy motels. Rae is a precocious and difficult pre-teen, but also demonstrates a quirky sense of loyalty. She quickly acquires tools for surviving in this family comprised of individuals adept at gathering intelligence and using it to their own advantage.The Spellman Files focuses principally on the characters, but a secondary story unfolds about an unresolved disappearance case. Other readers may be seeking a more plot-driven narrative, but far more interesting to me are the people and their interactions, their back stories, and the humor generated through the author's astute and clever observations. This book is at least as much about the Spellmans as it is a whodunit, and that strikes just the right balance for a mystery novel in a genre I find to be otherwise humdrum.The chapters often bear a structure resembling private investigation files wherein Isabel catalogs detailed lists of information and documents transcripts of conversations as though she is filling out investigative reports. My favorite storyline is Isabel's relationship with Future Ex-Boyfriend #9, Guatemala-born dentist Daniel Castillo DDS, with whom she shares a common interest in the 1960s crime series Get Smart. (I love that Isabel's parents share a strong distaste for and suspicion of dentists and prefer that their daughter date lawyers.) Their differences, however, reflect in Daniel's childhood dream of working for CONTROL, the American counter-espionage agency, whereas Isabel's lifelong fantasy is working for its nemesis, KAOS.* This coupling's future is precarious at best.From start to finish, Lutz demonstrates a quick-witted humor and intelligence that immediately drew me in and captivated my attention all throughout. This fantastic initial entry into the Spellman series has me convinced to continue on, and with anticipation I look forward to reading more.* The International Organization of Evil.
—Dennis
