Crooked

I really enjoyed Soon I Will Be Invincible, Austin Grossman's stellar debut novel, so I was really excited for Crooked. The premise is a pretty cool one: Richard Nixon was actually trying to save America from a dark, supernatural threat using the magical powers imparted to him by the presidency. Henry Kissinger is a weird little wizard who pulls strings behind the scenes and Pat Nixon has her own supernatural secrets. Unfortunately, the book never quite finds a comfortable rhythm, moving from cloak and dagger spy stuff to the portrait of a strained marriage to supernatural weirdness but no plot thread ever really seems to pay off. The finale fizzles and feels like a letdown. Not without it's good points, the suspense around the supernatural elements builds well, but it turned out to be more mediocre than I was hoping.