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My book club’s October selection was Suzanne Rindell’s debut novel, The Other Typist. This is the first book I’ve read in a while where I’ve been foisting it on other reader friends to read so that we can talk about it.
From the book summary:
Confessions are Rose Baker’s job. A typist for the New York City Police Department, she sits in judgment like a high priestess. Criminals come before her to admit their transgressions, and, with a few strokes of the keys before her, she seals their fate. But while she may hear about shootings, knifings, and crimes of passion, as soon as she leaves the room, she reverts to a dignified and proper lady. Until Odalie joins the typing pool.
As Rose quickly falls under the stylish, coquettish Odalie’s spell, she is lured into a sparkling underworld of speakeasies and jazz. And what starts as simple fascination turns into an obsession from which she may never recover.
The Other Typist reminds me a bit of The Great Gatsby with regards to the setting and style of lavish parties and debauchery. And it started a bit slow for me, but the more I read, the more I wanted to read. I wanted to know what the story was building up to, and as I talked about the book a bit on Twitter, other readers chimed in that they had the same experience I did.
There’s a big twist at the end, one that will likely have you going back and re-reading the last several chapters more than once. I love a book like this, one that makes you question everything you’ve read to that point, to wonder about the whole story. There was some good discussion about the characters and plot twist at our book club meeting- we all had some differing perspectives.
If you liked Gone Girl, with it’s twists and who did what and questionable activities, then I think you will like The Other Typist.