The Readymade Thief

June 26, 2017
The 17-year-old heroine of Rose’s debut novel, a richly detailed intellectual thriller set in contemporary Philadelphia, has already been through an adventurous childhood and adolescence when she ends up in juvie, set up by a former friend for a crime she hasn’t committed. Not that Lee Cuddy hasn’t earned her stay there: a natural-born shoplifter, she has also sold enough drugs to accumulate thousands of dollars in cash. Escaped from prison, she winds up in a creepy, cultish home for runaways and then goes on the lam with Tomi, a gentle Czech boy who has a talent for data retrieval, a taste for urban exploration, and a passion for the work of French artist Marcel Duchamp (whose “readymades” cemented the idea that ordinary objects could be considered art if their assembler defined them as such). After Lee steals a satchel from the office of the cult leader, she finds herself pursued by the mysterious Societe Anonyme, which is involved in the production of designer drugs. While Rose may put in one too many obscure references to alchemy and unified field theory, Lee is an excellent character, and the many shadowy settings she travels through make for a fascinating vision of an alternate, underground Philadelphia.

June 1, 2017
A young woman must outthink and outplay a group of men trying to uncover the deepest secrets of the universe (with the help of clues left by Marcel Duchamp) in Rose's debut novel.Lee has always felt invisible, taking advantage of this by shoplifting and dealing drugs to her high school classmates. When her friend Edie turns her in, Lee is sent to juvenile detention and then the psych ward, from which she manages to escape. Homeless, friendless, and directionless, Lee stumbles upon a group of other lost teens who live in the Crystal Castle under the control of a mysterious figure known as the Station Master. When she steals a strange object that turns out to be a work of art by Marcel Duchamp, Lee has no idea that she has attracted the obsessive interest of a shadowy and dangerous society that effectively worships Duchamp. They believe he left clues in his art that reveal the key to immortality, and they are willing to sacrifice anyone and everyone to decipher them. Together with her friend Tomi, an art fanatic who likes to creep around abandoned buildings, Lee fights to stay one step ahead of the Societe Anonyme, which seems to have spies everywhere and which has determined that Lee herself is central to their dastardly plans. The novel is complex on many intellectual levels, drawing heavily on theories of art history and physics, and the mystery is deep and satisfying in both its unpredictability and its culmination. The sheer scope is impressive, as are Rose's evocative descriptions of underground and abandoned places, reminiscent of David Lynch's films. Lee, despite being a strong survivor, doesn't captivate, however. Her survival depends on her ability to be self-sufficient and to separate herself from people, which also estranges her from the reader. Admirably ambitious but lacking in soul.

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July 1, 2017

It's a bit of a challenge to describe this first novel, which feels a little like David Mitchell wrote The Da Vinci Code and mixed in a bit from Vanessa Diffenbaugh's The Language of Flowers. Seventeen-year-old Lee Cuddy would probably be the first to tell you that she's no model kid. She steals, sells drugs, and has had more than her fair share of run-ins with the police. Still, she has good grades and plans for the future, including college with her best friend Edie. But when Lee takes the fall for a drug deal gone bad, her college plans evaporate and she finds herself homeless and on the run from both the law and a shady underground organization that believes she possesses something of great importance. Enter Tomi, a gifted hacker, who takes Lee under his wing and introduces her to urban exploration and the art world, all while evading those who pursue them. Rose has created an excellent twisty plot set against a richly textured backdrop, but his characters feel a bit sketched. We don't get to know Lee particularly well, and the people around her feel a bit like foils to help move the story along. But what a story it is! VERDICT Give this one to readers looking for an unputdownable literary summer escape. [See Prepub Alert, 2/20/17.]--Liz Kirchhoff, Barrington Area Lib., IL

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