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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Murder; a near-drowning; adult violence that impinges on childhood; the details of crimes
Language
Some
Moderate language
Sexual Content
Some
Moderate; adult content in the island community; some explicit material
Substance Use
Some
Moderate; the island's wealthy culture
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Very strong; the child who sees too clearly; the mentor-student dynamic as initiation into darkness; Straub's Blue Rose trilogy as a meditation on how evil persists through generations
What this book is about
The second book in Straub's Blue Rose trilogy follows Tom Pasmore, who nearly drowns as a young boy in a mysterious accident and thereafter develops an unusual sensitivity to death and to the detective fiction his neighbor von Heilitz introduces him to. When a woman is murdered, Tom's investigation becomes his education into how evil hides in plain sight. Straub writes childhood and the intrusion of adult darkness into it with unnerving precision.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Adult violence in proximity to a child protagonist
Explicit sexual content
Reader Verification
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