Red Handed by Matt Kindt
4/5 stars
First Second, 2013
264 pages
Adult Mystery Graphic Novel
Scheduled to release May 7
Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
As part of my quest for broadening my reading horizons, I have become more open to reading graphic novels after an unfortunate period where I looked down on them (I know-I was a horrid snob!) I have since learned my lesson and am always on the lookout for ones that look intriguing such as Red Handed, which looked like a cool mystery, a favorite genre of mine.
I'm glad I read this as I found it absolutely gripping if completely confusing at first. The subtitle "The Fine Art of Strange Crimes" is certainly appropriate. See, it begins as what seems to be a collection of only loosely related short stories before you start to see how everything is tied together. For example, it's all set in the same city with one detective at the core. I really don't want to spoil anything so I'm going to stop there other than to say that it was very interesting and if you put all the pieces together, you still won't want the solution to be what it is.
Unfortunately as is so often the case for me with graphic novels in e-format, sometimes the fonts used were difficult to read. Now I don't think it's just because my eyes but the way it was designed in general. Thus I missed a few sections of text although I think I still got the basic gist. If this is of interest, I highly recommend getting a hard copy for the best reading experience.
I'm not much of an art connoisseur so I don't feel very confident commenting on it. I thought the drawings were very realistic and grounded, fitting with the story well and never detracting. As shown on the cover, the colors are fairly muted (no neon here!)
This was a good fast (adult because of a few of the drawings) read that managed to pack a considerable punch at the end despite its brevity. If you like mysteries, I think you'd enjoy this.
