"Tangerine!!!!!!!!!!!" It Is The Only One!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                        Forget what Joyce Carol Oates says.  The Donna Tartt connection only involves the two female characters having gone to Bennington College, in Vermont.  And Gillian Flynn, forget it!  The future of thrillers belongs to Christine Mangan, who is more in the camp of Patricia Highsmith.  Indeed, "Tangerine" reads like "The Talented Mr. Ripley," where Ripley is a female.

                                         This novel gets into all kinds of territory--college girl shenanigans, lesbianism, "Single White Female'--you name it.  The surprise is that Mangan's writing is so strong it all seems fresh and spontaneous.

                                            And Lucy Mason is no Lucy Snow.  Miss Snow is the heroine of Charlotte Bronte's best novel, "Villette."  Which most people, unfortunately,  have not read.

                                             But do not underestimate Alice Shipley.  She is a match for Lucy, and while I cannot reveal the outcome, it does pave the way for a sequel, if Mangan would care to write one.  And watch out for Aunt Maude, who is as gullible as Monica Breedlove, in "The Bad Seed."

                                               Were I Christine Mangan,  I would just revel right now in the glow of having written the most clever thriller of the year.  This could be a contender for my end of year list.  We shall see.

                                                 Hey, Christine--if you read this--I am one who is fascinated with 18th Century Gothic literature, as well.  Please share with me the novels you perused in doing your thesis.  I would love to read some of those!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    Gothic in Gotham!  That's me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!