Mystery of Grace, The
Written by: Charles de Lint
Published by: TOR 2009

 

I must confess, I always look forward to the latest writings of this author. There are very few authors who can consistently bring magic to their work, but he is one of them. The world of urban fantasy has de Lint, while horror has Stephen King. Simple. I am happy to report that I wasn’t let down with the latest work, “The Mystery of Grace.”

Enter into the world of hot rods and rockabilly, set in the southwest. This is a new story, a new location, and packs a serious punch! I don’t see de Lint fans feeling let down, in fact I can see some of them greatly appreciating the new avenues that de Lint is exploring. I know I do!

Altagracia, or Grace as her friends call her, is a strong protagonist. This enchantingly secure lady breaks a lot of the rules that society has made. Grace is a mechanic by trade, covered in some very serious ink, and a fan of rockabilly and surf guitar. Obviously, she could care less what anyone thinks of her. Anyone outside of her Abuelo, that is. She works hard at the Sanchez Motor Works, and spends her spare time turning old forgotten Fords into some seriously sweet custom hot rods.

Her life is pretty full, or at least Grace thinks it is. Until she meets John at a Halloween Ball held at the Solona Music Hall. The two fall head over heels for each other, and are mutually blown away by the strength of this new emotion. Unfortunately, life and death have other things to say about this union, as proven when Grace vanishes from John’s bathroom and seemingly from his life. He becomes obsessed with the lady mechanic, and does everything he can to track her down.

The results are not what John expected, and they lead the two on a heartbreaking journey to fulfillment. A journey that teaches the two of them a great deal.

There are lessons to be learned from this book, and one of them is to let go. Don’t grip the past with a stranglehold, let go and live for the now. There are some things that you just have to let go of in order to let new things in.

There’s some strong dreaming put into this latest tale, and the romantic in all of us will be satisfied! de Lint stretches muscles that haven’t been seen by his readers in the last three years, but it was well worth the wait!

Article by: Naomi "NAI" De Bruyn
posted:01 Apr 2009

Related Link: http://www.tor.com