North of Boston

Swimmer. Elisabeth Elo’s debut novel, North of Boston, packs a wallop. The protagonist of this thriller is thirty-year-old Pirio Kasparov, and unlike the heroic characters in most thrillers, she is well-developed and complex. The action starts as she survives a hit and run ship to boat accident in the Atlantic. Her ability to remain in the freezing water for hours made her known to strangers as “the swimmer.” She works as an executive for the perfume company her late mother founded. Elo uses great skill in maintaining the very fast pace of the plot action, while developing multiple interesting characters and varied plot lines. On top of those positive elements, Elo’s prose remains graceful throughout the novel, leading me to wonder whether to classify this as a literary novel rather than a thriller. All readers who like a well-told tale, no matter what genre, will find a lot to like in this novel. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase North of Boston from amazon.com.