I loved Veronica Mars the television show so much, but I must confess, I haven’t seen the movie. I had a baby that January, and my March just went by in a blur of no sleep. Now that I’ve read the books I should really go back and watch it. I did spoil myself with some major plot points from the movie since the first book takes place right after the movie.
I liked the mystery plot in the book, and I thought it was fine that the book isn’t written in first person. Major plot points where Veronica is taken by surprise and has to deal with her long lost mother would not have worked as well if it was written in first person. Veronica is investigating the disappearance of two girls during spring break. She solves the first disappearance quickly, but the second case is more complicated. The resolution of that case borrows a lot from Matchstick Me n. What bothered me the most about this story was how Veronica interacted with her mother. It just didn’t feel like the way the way she would act, but I guess I will have to watch the movie to see how different she has become. I would also have liked to explore more of why she decided to go back to being a private investigator. The Veronica Mars of the tv show doesn’t seem like to type to ditch all of her schooling in law. She was always very concerned about money. She could have fought corruption in Neptune as an attorney, but I guess it would be less likely for her to be hit with a Taser in that case. Speaking of which, in the ten years since the show she hasn’t learned to walk in on a bad guy without any backup? Nitpicks aside I did enjoy this book a lot.
I did not like the second book as much as the first. A woman in beaten and left for dead after she is attacked at the Neptune Grand hotel and Veronica is hired to help clear the janitor she accuses as being her attacker. I really hope that Lizzie turned out okay because so many terrible things have happened to the Manning sisters. The biggest problem I had with this book was that Veronica gets a confession from the rapist by having someone she’s hired beat the hell out of him. I would hope that she would be cleverer than that, even though it is a good thing she doesn’t place herself in physical harm. The other thing that really bothered me was Veronica’s reluctance to continue dating Logan because he is a soldier. Her life is at risk by being an investigator, and further, if they are inching her towards Leo, his life is as much at risk as a police officer. It seems like a convenient way to introduce a love triangle. Overall, I was happy to be immersed in the seedy world of Neptune again and will be reading the additional books in this series.
