Saturday, November 19, 2011

Hot, Shot, and Bothered, by Nora McFarland

McFarland is an extraordinary writer.  Her description of the Central California wildfires was so harrowing that I nearly jumped out of my chair when someone interrupted my reading.  McFarland isn't afraid to make her main character, news photographer Lilly Hawkins, pretty unlikeable at times, as, for instance, Lilly compulsively pursues clues to solving the murder of a childhood acquaintance at the risk of her own career, and more distastefully, her lover's.  McFarland also shows Lilly capable of self-examination and change, but she remains a pretty flawed character in spite of her new-found ability to bite her tongue -- sometimes.  Everything McFarland writes has the ring of truth.  Nora McFarland has donated a copy of Hot, Shot, and Bothered to UCLA's College Library.  The students (and faculty) are going to love it!

1 comment:

  1. I enjoyed reading this book and loved that Lilly was written with a strong and flawed character. Yeah, sometimes you felt like casually shuffling away from her so no one would know you knew her, but it made her real. I'm looking forward to the next one!

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