She Treads Softly: The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne

The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie
3/25/25; 368 pages
Penguin/Putnam

The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie is a highly recommended, brutal, character-driven crime saga.

In the Little Canada area of Waterville, Maine, Babs Dionne, proud Franco-American, doting grandmother, and vicious crime matriarch, rules. She controls local politicians and law enforcement while overseeing the sale of illegal drugs in her small town with the help of her loyal lieutenants, girlfriends since they were teenagers, and her eldest daughter, Lori, a Marine vet struggling with addiction. When her youngest daughter, Sis, is missing and later found dead, Babs is out for revenge. Adding to the complications is the arrival in town of a mysterious malevolent enforcer known as The Man.

This is a gritty, riveting, harsh, gripping, darkly humorous, tension-packed, and violent family crime drama and mystery, which is also, ultimately, a tragedy. It is very much character-driven as it follows the life of one tough woman, the matriarch Babs Dionne, her family, and her criminal empire. The plot is cinematic in the presentation and includes a supernatural element. You can see this becoming a movie.

The characters are fully realized individuals with all their strengths, struggles, and numerous flaws clearly presented. Their are backstories from their lives included which helps flesh them out even more, creating some empathy with individuals who are clearly damaged.

The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne will be appreciated by readers who enjoy brutal family crime sagas. Thanks to Penguin/Putnam for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

No comments:

Post a Comment

John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.