Review: The Case for Jamie by Brittany Cavallaro
9:29 PM
New look for reviews--excuse the general messiness! I'm absolutely not satisfied with how this looks.
Booked J will be having a bit of a makeover by the time 2019 arrives, so expect a little design change!
I finally finished The Case for Jamie this week and it proved to be just as fun as the rest of the series!
Just so you guys understand me: Brittany Cavallaro is one of my favourite authors. So, as with all of my favourite writers, I would absolutely read anything she put out IN A HEARTBEAT. Like, she is on auto-buy. I may be president of her fanclub at this point, who knows, BUT she is president of my bank account. Brittany Cavallaro could literally put out a book on the types of wallpaper causes you the most brilliant fits of boredom and I'd be like, "Wow. This is ART. This is LITERARY TREASURE."
Am I biased? Am I stan? Well, I'll let you decide that on your own. The point is: I loved this series the very moment I read my galley of A Study in Charlotte and it's really been downhill since then. Did I need YET ANOTHER SERIES to stan? Nope. Am I glad I have it? Absolutely. I'm just glad to know that The Case for Jamie isn't the last in the Charlotte Holmes series because (a) I am a sucker for this version of Watson and Holmes and (b) too many of my favourite series ended in 2018 so it's a relief knowing this one wasn't ending, too.
The thing about Charlotte Holmes is it has a really high quality to its prose. Cavallaro has a really smooth, somewhat bleak, prose to her that feels mysterious and classic all at once. Each of the characters have this level of wit that makes the dialogue fun, as opposed to the more serious aspects of the story. The Case for Jamie was a breeze to read because of how easily Cavallaro mixes genres.
As always, the story sprinkles in the right measure of teenage angst (picking up a year after the previous installment, Holmes and Watson haven't spoken in a year) and the telling signs of a good old fashioned mystery. There's romance and coming of age. There's genuine struggles (Holmes has an addiction, Watson has PTSD) and demons that add that layer of realistic depth to the leads. With its split narrative, The Case for Jamie adds several other layers to it.
I've always fancied the idea of Watson and Holmes being real people, so the entire backstory of the two being historical figures rather than fictional characters just speaks to me. Plus, the dynamic of their descendants--teenage Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes--as well as that of other familiar names (Moriarty!) is delectable. You root for the good guys, you root for the morally gray, and you can't help but to be thoroughly amused (and terrified) of the bad guys.
I liked that Cavallaro had drawn out the tension in this one. It felt a lot more gray and compelling than the previous installments (which were already compelling as is) and I thought that it was all very smartly put together. Cavallaro took great care in providing readers with Watson and Holmes as Watson and Holmes, individuals, and still reiterated the fact that they are almost like extensions of one another now and forever.
There's just something about this series that is instantly classic; mysterious and feel-good. I can't get enough! This was a wild ride and I won't spoil it for you--it's just too fun going into it almost blindly!
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