Acts of Violet by Margarita Montimore

​I admit, stories about magic and magicians (not the fantasy kind, the performing kind) hold a special interest for me. That was what attracted me to this book, and on that front it definitely did not disappoint.  In fact, I am surprised by the low ratings this novel has on GR. I found it riveting. Difficult to put down.
I actually ended up reading it on Thanksgiving so was forced to put it down on multiple occasions and every time found myself eager to go back. If that doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement for a book, I don’t know what might.
So yeah, I liked almost everything about it. The snappy smart writing and dialogue, the pop culture references, the strong characters. I loved the way the author dished out the suspense in proportional, tantalizing chapter-sized servings. And I loved how much random weirdness the author crammed into the novel from historical facts to magic to ley lines to other dimensions.
The protagonist, Violet, is a perfect Gen X love child, and her acts are sometimes magical sometimes dangerous sometimes volatile. Yet, like a real magician she remains off-screen for the readers, told only through perspectives of others as the tenth anniversary of her mysterious disappearance dawns.
The more you get to know her, the less you are certain of what to think of her. She’s deliciously complicated. And never easy. Certainly, she has never been easy on her only sister, to whom majority of the narrative belongs.
In fact, that might be the only aspect of the novel I didn’t love. How in the end it seems like the entire production was mainly about sisterhood. That just isn’t that interesting to me. And it smells suspiciously of women’s fiction. Now magic…that’s different. For my money, this novel should have maintained its focus on magic.
Either way, I enjoyed it tremendously right up until the final plot twist. And even afterwards, the overall impressions are good. This was definitely a smarter, more original thriller than most. Recommended.