How a rich and beautiful heiress to a perfume company ends
up helping haul in lobster near Boston Harbor is a story
with deep roots going back to her childhood, but the fact
that Pirio Kasparov survives the unexpected plunge in icy
waters after a freighter smashes into their boat is what
makes the news all over Boston.
Raised in a privileged lifestyle in Boston by immigrant
Russian parents, the lively and spirited Pirio had been
sent as a child to boarding school where she bonded for
life with her best friend, Thomasina. Their adventures in
boarding schools set the stage for their unusual liking for
the rough-and-tumble neighbourhood of fishing folks in
South Boston and Thomasina's ill-fated dysfunctional
marriage to Ned Rizzo who is the father to of their ten
year old Noah. Noah is a wise and shy lad, understanding how
to manage for himself when his mother has her too
frequent alcoholic binges, but he's heavily dependent on
Pirio for bringing some safety and sanity into his life.
As a friend of the family, Pirio offers to help Ned with
his fishing as he is shorthanded. While out in the cold
and in the fog, Ned is killed when his lobster boat is
smashed to bits by a large freighter. Noah asks Pirio to
find out who killed his dad. She promises him she will do
that.
Unknown to her, Pirio had survived over four hours in the
freezing water due to a rare physiological condition that
allows her to tolerate the deadly effects of hypothermia, a
feat that even trained Navy Seals could not do without
specialized equipment. Now, the U.S. Navy wants to know the
how and why of Pirio's unique ability. Pirio is curious as
well, but Thomasina goes off on one of her binges and
strange things start to happen as Pirio asks people about
the accident. Full of perseverance, Pirio starts to
investigate on her own. The more she learns, the more she
believes that the collision was not an accident, but a
deliberate attempt to kill Ned. But, why would anyone want
to do that and who was after him?
Debut author Elisabeth Elo has written a hard-hitting and
gritty novel with unusual and intelligent characters,
nicely linked by a dramatic storyline. Pirio Kasparov is a
complex and snarky protagonist who is ready with a sassy
line, no matter how daunting the circumstances. Her
abilities and talents are many and varied, including a
highly acute sense of smell likely inherited from her
mother who founded a famous perfume business that Pirio
will inherit upon the death of her father, Milosa. She can
move with the confidence provided by her privileged class,
yet her childhood adventures enables her to learn to shoot
like a pro and to know a wide variety of interesting tricks.
It will be interesting to see if Elo will feature Pirio in
another book in the future as she is a very likable and
intriguing heroine. One the one hand, Elo's characters are
almost overdrawn, yet, as the plot develops, Elo adds in
excellent backstories that make it all very vivid and
realistic, despite the extremes. I also found the author
to be particular talented at portraying strong emotions and
dysfunctional family dynamics, both in the plot from Noah's
as well as Pirio's own backgrounds. Thriller and mystery
lovers are sure to find NORTH OF BOSTON a page turning
adventure as events twist and turn and moves the story from
South Boston, to Florida and then to frigid Canadian Arctic
waters! Enjoy!
Dennis Lehane meets Smilla’s Sense of Snow: a big discovery
in the world of female suspense, about an edgy young woman
with the rare ability to withstand extreme conditions
Elisabeth Elo’s debut novel introduces Pirio Kasparov, a
Boston-bred tough-talking girl with an acerbic wit and a
moral compass that points due north.
When the fishing boat Pirio is on is rammed by a freighter,
she finds herself abandoned in the North Atlantic. Somehow,
she survives nearly four hours in the water before being
rescued by the Coast Guard. But the boat’s owner and her
professional fisherman friend, Ned, is not so lucky.
Compelled to look after Noah, the son of the late Ned and
her alcoholic prep school friend, Thomasina, Pirio can’t
shake the lurking suspicion that the boat’s sinking—and
Ned’s death—was no accident. It’s a suspicion seconded by
her deeply cynical, autocratic Russian father, who tells her
that nothing is ever what it seems. Then the navy reaches
out to her to participate in research on human survival in
dangerously cold temperatures.
With the help of a curious journalist named Russell Parnell,
Pirio begins unraveling a lethal plot involving the glacial
whaling grounds off Baffin Island. In a narrow inlet in the
arctic tundra, Pirio confronts her ultimate challenge: to
trust herself.
A gripping literary thriller, North of Boston combines the
atmospheric chills of Jussi Adler-Olsen with the gritty
mystery of Laura Lippman. And Pirio Kasparov is a gutsy,
compellingly damaged heroine with many adventures ahead.
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