Ok, I was with this book until the very very end. By necessity, spoilers.

So Phyllis starts bleeding and dies in childbirth. Why? Bleeding and death is not inevitable if one is not in a hospital during labor. It is insufficient to me to just say she started bleeding and expect that to be an explanation. That's a deus ex machina, not a cause of death. Was it a placenta previa? (Unlikely but possibly?) An abruption? (Not from the description of her pain.) It wasn't a slow labor. It wasn't an obstructed labor, from the description. So why did she bleed out and die? Being in labor is not a reason for it!

Trouble the Saints is a smoky, velvety historical noir where there is blood on everybody’s hands. It’s compelling. It’s dangerous. It’s excellent.

I will admit that it took me a little while to get into the rhythm of this book. Noirs by nature are slow, and Trouble the Saints is no exception. We take our time getting to know first Phyllis, then Dev, then Tamara. I liked Phyllis’ and Tamara sections of this book equally, but I couldn’t get into Dev’s. The middle of this book is more deep dark secrets than anything else, and while it ultimately serves to give some breadth to the lore of Saints Hands, there were also some grisly, concerning bits that I just didn’t enjoy. Otherwise, the women weaving in and out of the shadows – whether angel of justice or snake dancer – were compelling, dark, and I couldn’t tear myself away from their stories.

Johnson paints the story of a Russian mobster and the tools he leaves behind. While Vic isn’t a main character, his curse literally and figuratively touches every aspect of this book. There is a painful history that ties directly into the lore, that ties directly into our own history in the United States. It’s uncomfortable to read most the time, but it is also the sort of book you feel you have to bear witness to. The characters aren’t likable, they aren’t even forgivable, but they do serve to entertain.

If I had to pick a single favorite aspect about Trouble the Saints, I would choose Johnson’s writing style. It’s smooth and evocative in the best ways. Some writes have such skill they can twirl words around effortlessly, like trails of cigarette spoke and sparkling martini glasses in a speakeasy. Johnson has that skill, and even if I hadn’t enjoyed Trouble the Saints, her writing style would have left me hungry for more of her work.

If you’re a fan of historical fiction or noir, particularly ones with questionable characters and dark secrets, Trouble the Saints is absolutely the book for you. Be warned, though. There is a lot of blood in this book. But, there are also conversations about race, gender, and survival mixed in with the (mostly) off-screen violence and messy relationships. It’s a different book than the sort I usually read, and it reminded me how much I love noir as a genre, especially when it’s done so well. ( )

set in New York City in the early forties, with complex characters navigating a criminal underworld within a magic realism lens. the mix of genres and subject matters, from horror to Jim Crow, recalled Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country, and this is an author to watch. ( )

TW: Racism, description of a lynching that happened in the past, violence and murders, many scenes with descriptions of blood

It’s probably more of 3.5 but to be honest, I’m still unsure.

This historical fantasy noir with supernatural elements is so far away from my comfort zone or anything that I ever read, that even I’m surprised to see it on my tbr. But I was very intrigued when I first saw the cover because it’s super pretty and I guess I just wanted to try something different. But now I don’t know what to say.

The prose was beautiful at places, but also harder to understand at others, overall taking a little more effort from my side to understand the meaning behind it all. We are also pretty much thrown in the middle of things and have to figure out what’s happening in this world on the cusp of WWII where certain people of color seem to have magical powers. We also follow three POVs, but consecutively which is something I’ve never read before, and I actually enjoyed how they could feel like three different stories but also so very connected. The characters are compelling, though not always likable, but I was quite interested to know what was gonna happen to them. And what a pleasant surprise it was to find that one of them is a biracial Hindu character, whose beliefs influence how he perceives his magical gift.

While the story and writing are one thing, it’s the thematic elements of the book that stood out. As an America during late 30s/early 40s, racism is very much alive and we see it in small microaggressions to bigger scarier moments. We also see biracial characters - both white passing and not - as well as Black characters try and navigate this world where they may have some magic of their own, but ultimately they are powerless in the face of white supremacy. We also witness the effects of generational trauma caused by slavery and everything after that, and how this trauma influences the actions of different people in myriad unexpected ways. There is also the underlying theme that it’s not enough to carve out a safe place for ourselves in a world that makes us powerless, but it’s also important that we fight to make the world better and maybe take some of that power back with whatever resources we have. We owe this to the ancestors who suffered unspeakable horrors which many didn’t survive.

In the end, I honestly don’t know how to articulate what I felt about this book. If you are a fan of noir, enjoy reading historical stories through the lens of people of color living a tough life in those times, don’t mind some purple prose and like your fantasy to have strong themes - then you might enjoy this book. But it also has mob bosses, dirty cops and politicians, and undercover operations; so be prepared for a good amount of gore and violence. ( )

The writing is lyrical and the story is very intense. I actually found that I needed to take a break from reading in order to clear my head. ( )