Invisible Boy

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Overview

"Cornelia Read's darkest, most passionate, and most poignant book yet."
-Tana French, New York Times Bestselling Author

The smart-mouthed but sensitive runaway socialite Madeline Dare is shocked when she discovers the skeleton of a brutalized three-year-old boy in her own weed-ridden family cemetery outside Manhattan. Determined to see that justice is served, she finds herself examining her own troubled personal history, and the sometimes hidden, sometimes all-too-public class and racial warfare that penetrates every level of society in the savage streets of New York City during the early 1990s.

Madeline is aided in her efforts by a colorful assemblage of friends, relatives, and new acquaintances, each one representing a separate strand of the patchwork mosaic city politicians like to brag about. The result is an unforgettable narrative that relates the causes and consequences of a vicious crime to the wider relationships that connect and divide us all.

Editorial Reviews

Marilyn Stasio

That well-bred voice cursing a blue streak in Invisible Boy can belong only to Madeline Dare, the renegade socialite from Oyster Bay, Long Island, who solves murders and spits venom in Cornelia Read's offbeat mysteries.
—The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

Set in 1990, Read’s superb third Madeline Dare novel (after The Crazy School) finds the acid-tongued ex-socialite and her blue-collar husband, Dean, in Manhattan. A chance encounter with distant cousin Cate Ludlam introduces Madeline to Queens’ Prospect Cemetery, where Cate is in charge of the volunteer cleanup effort. While helping to clear weeds, Madeline unearths a small skeleton, which turns out to be that of three-year-old Teddy Underhill, reported missing months earlier. Accustomed to snooping around police investigations, Madeline hounds the lead detective in charge for answers, and soon learns that Teddy was a victim of regular physical abuse at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend. Read expertly evokes the New York City of the period, from the nearly palpable grime of Chelsea to disturbing undertones of racism and classism in the justice system. Equal parts toughness and vulnerability, Madeline is always a bracing heroine. (Mar.)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780446511353
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication date: 1/30/2012
Pages: 448
Sales rank: 225,961
Product dimensions: 5.20 (w) x 7.90 (h) x 1.40 (d)

Meet the Author

Cornelia Read grew up in New York, California, and Hawaii. She is a reformed debutante who currently lives in New Hampshire. To learn more about the author, you can visit her website at www.corneliaread.com, and www.nakedauthors.com, her group blog with authors Jim Born, Paul Levine, Patty Smiley, and Jacqueline Winspear.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5

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Slessman

Posted May 23, 2010

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I Also Recommend:

INVISIBLE BOY IS A VISUAL READ

INVISIBLE BOY
Cornelia Read
Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-446-51134-6
$24.99 - Hardback
432 pages
Reviewer: Annie Slessman

If you read The Crazy School by Cornelia Read then you already know that Cornelia Read is a master storyteller. In INVISIBLE BOY, Cornelia takes Madeline Dare on a new adventure in New York City set in the early 1990's. Madeline, while helping friend, Cate, clean up a historical cemetery discovers the skeleton of a three year old boy whose chest is caved in from a brutal beating. This discovery leads her to a new friendship with a woman police officer and the rediscovery of an old college buddy.

Interwoven into this story is Madeline's strange friendship with her college friend, Astrid. Astrid, the beautiful, has just married Christoph who has offered Madeline's unemployed husband a position with his firm. Astrid's strange behavior takes on a new high after her marriage to Christoph and Madeline finds herself caught between her loyalty to her husband and her friendship with Astrid.

This is not a simple story. Rather it is one that is complex and thought provoking. Read combines the interesting elements in human nature, relationships and civic responsibility and threads them into one bracing novel. There is something for everyone in this work and I can understand why it was chosen for publication. Few writers today can weave such a complex story and yet, provide reading that will span age and educational barriers.

Cornelia Read lives is New Hampshire and can be visited on her website at www.corneliaread.com.
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harstan

Posted March 18, 2010

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Invisible Boy is a condemning look at society that is run by class status, heritage elitism and racial stereotyping;

In 1990 in Manhattan, former socialite Madeline Dare is happy with her marriage to blue-collar Dean though she does not like their dumpy Union Square apartment that she and her spouse share with her sister and their friend. Still she does not miss her former lifestyle of the rich and socially Mayflower prominence nor her exile to the Berkshires as she accepts being poor.

Madeline runs into her distant cousin Cate Ludlam, who is leading a clean-up of Prospect Cemetery in Queens. Unable to say no, Madeline is drafted to pull weed duty. However, she finds the skeletal remains of a young child, who turns out to be missing three years old Teddy Underhill. Refusing to stay out of the NYPD inquiry, Madeline learns that the little boy was an abuse victim of his mother and her boyfriend.

Unlike The Crazy School or A Field of Darkness amateur sleuthing stints, Invisible Boy is more a condemning look at society that is run by class status, heritage elitism and racial stereotyping; as justice is not blind to the affluent or the poor albeit treated differently. Readers will appreciate Madeline's daring exploits in Manhattan and Queens as she refuses to back down from a system that enables a three year old to be discarded.

Harriet Klausner
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gl

Posted March 7, 2010

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The best Madeline Dare novel yet!

Invisible Boy is the third of Cornelia Read's stories involving the quirky, struggling socialite Madeline Dare. Unlike The Crazy School which is part amateur mystery, Invisible Boy is largely focused on Madeline Dare, her family and her life which I found to be a more interesting read.

From the earlier novels, we know that Madeline Dare's family ranks high in the Social Register and that her Mayflower legacy largely trumps her current poor financial situation. Though Madeline shares a cramped and no-frills (read: slightly rundown) apartment off of Union Square with her husband, her sister Pagan and her friend Sue, her connections and legacy still open doors. While she faces slights and snubs, Madeline handles things with her brand of grace and humor. I found Cornelia Reed's description of old prep school friendships especially effective and added to my appreciation and understanding of Madeline. Madeline's sense of justice also comes across well in Invisible Boy; she is willing to face all sorts of risks to bring Teddy Underhill's killers to justice.

Overall, I liked enjoyed Invisible Boy. This third story reveals more of Madeline Dare's history and personality, which works to her advantage.

ISBN-10: 044651134X - Hardcover
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 30, 2010), 432 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
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