Stiletto, Audio Edition

Stiletto, Audio Edition (2016) Daniel O’Malley narrated by Moira Quirk

Since I re-listened to The Rook, I had to follow up with Stiletto.

I keep checking to see if Daniel O’Malley has written anything else, and I am terribly disappointed every time I see that, no, there is nothing else.

Why do I love these books? Well, strong female characters for one thing. Amazing world building for another. But most of all, the dialog.

To ensure that you remain unknown and that none remark upon your presence, you will be given clothing to blend in among the populace. To discourage civilians from approaching you, you will be sprayed with urine.
…
“But where did you get my urine?” she asked.

“The Checquy has samples of everyone’s everything,” said Odgers cheerfully. “Remember, during your time at the Estate, they kept taking specimens of your every fluid and solid?”

“That was for scientific research!” exclaimed Felicity. “And it was years ago!”

“Would someone else’s fresh urine be better?”

A question to which there is no good answer.

They all regarded the car thoughtfully. It was not what any of them had expected. Not only was it minuscule, with only two doors, but it appeared to be quite unwell. The black paint was badly scuffed, and one of the doors was white with a cartoon rabbit wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigarette drawn on it in marker. The front bumper seemed to have been tied on with twine, and there were the peeling remnants of old bumper stickers on the back. The uniformed driver who got out looked as if he had been cut-and-pasted into the wrong vehicle.

“I don’t mean to sound like a diva here, Ingrid,” said the Rook finally, “but this is a very small car.” Odette thought it was rather charitable of her to comment only on its size rather than its general insalubriousness.

“And I know I was distracted on the way here, but I’m fairly certain this is not the car I arrived in.”

“That’s right, Rook Thomas.”

“So… were we robbed?”

“No, but the deaths at the site have already caught the attention of the press. They’re hanging around outside, so we’ll have to go in the back. I thought a stretch limousine might draw some attention.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” said Thomas grudgingly. “Good thinking.” She sighed and looked at the diminutive and disreputable vehicle. “Where did we even get this car? Whose is it?”

“Pawn Thistlethwaite’s. He said we could borrow it.”

“Pawn Thistlethwaite came in this?” asked the Rook. “That can’t be right, I know what his salary is. Make a note, Ingrid, we should have him screened for drugs.”

“It’s his son’s car,” said the EA. “I gather his is at the mechanic’s.”

That passage cracks me up every single time.

…Two ladies came in, dressed very smart. They explained that the baby was not dead, that he was in the care of the government, and that there would be some more duties for me here at the hospital. If I took on those duties and kept it all secret, then I would receive a good deal of money and the gratitude of the nation. If I didn’t— well, they never actually said what would happen. But I understood it wouldn’t be nearly as nice.”

“So you agreed,” said Felicity, fascinated. The children of the Estate were rarely told how they had come to the Checquy. “And you… never talked to the parents about it?”

“No, that would have led to the ingratitude of the nation,” said the nurse flatly.

“I can summon and command wasps,” said Pawn Harriet Collinge, whom Odette suspected of being a little bit tipsy. “Roger disrupts mathematics, and Louis can draw wasps to him.”

“Very cool,” said Odette. “Wait, so you can both do things with wasps? Are you two related?”

“Oh, no,” said Louis. “Sorry, she does the thing with insects. I can attract white Anglo-Saxon Protestants.”

I believe it’s now taken me an hour to attempt to write this review, because I keep going back and re-reading passages that make me giggle. So I’d best end.

Publisher: Hachette Audio
Rating: 9.5/10

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