Saturday, 20 May 2017

Jenny T. Colgan - Spandex in the City


Rating: 4/5

review:
Very enjoyable



I enjoyed Spandex And The City.  As a man in my 60s, I'm not really in its target audience, but a great title and a friend's recommendation persuaded me to try it and I'm glad I did. I thought it was funny, engaging and rather exciting in places.

Jenny Colgan (whom I hadn't read before) has produced a comic mash-up of a rom-com and superhero adventure and done it very well.  It is narrated in the first person by Holly who works in a dull job in the PR department of the mayor's office in the fictional US city of Centerton - which has its own superhero in Ultimate Man.  ("I mean, seriously? Ultimate Man?" "Well, all the good names had gone.")  He's a Batman/Superman type who rescues Holly from a supervillain a couple of times and a will they/won't they love story begins.  It could have been awful, but Colgan has a lovely touch so the story is humorous with exactly the level of irony needed to be witty, the dialogue is excellently done, Holly is a very engaging protagonist and there's some genuine excitement and some rather thoughtful content in places.

This isn't intended to be Great Literature, but it's a very well-written and entertaining book which I enjoyed a lot.  It would make a great beach read!  Recommended.

(I received an ARC via Netgalley.)

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