Secret Identity

October 1, 2021

Segura, who writes the "Pete Fernandez Mystery" series and has penned comic books as well, combines his passions in a story featuring aspiring comics writer Carmen Valdez. It's 1975, the comic book industry is slumping, and Carmen treasures her job at Triumph Comics, where a colleague asks her to help him create the first female superhero. Then he's found dead, having turned in the scripts they worked on together without crediting her, and a stubborn cop starts making connections. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 10, 2022
Set in 1975, this outstanding novel from Anthony Award winner Segura (the Pete Fernandez series) stars Carmen Valdez, an obsessive comic book fan since her childhood in Miami, Fla., who now lives in New York City and works on the periphery of her dream as an assistant at Triumph Comics, an afterthought in the then flailing comics industry dominated by Marvel and DC. When Triumph junior editor Harvey Stern approaches the creatively gifted Carmen to help him pitch a new series, it’s the opportunity to finally see one of her ideas come to life. Carmen agrees to Harvey’s request that she ghostwrite until he can leverage her involvement. They create the company’s first female superhero, the Lethal Lynx, who’s an immediate hit, though Harvey’s erratic behavior and the sudden arrival of an old flame from Miami complicate matters. When Harvey is murdered before he publicly acknowledges Carmen’s role, she’s forced to look for answers as she seeks to prevent someone else from transforming the Lethal Lynx into something soulless. Carmen navigates the shifting loyalties within the industry with aplomb. Segura’s infectious passion for superheroes shines in this page-turning mix of murder mystery and coming-of-age story. Agent: Josh Getzler, HG Literary.

Starred review from February 1, 2022
A secretary at a comic book company tries to track down a co-worker's killer in this taut thriller. For nearly as long as she can remember, Carmen Valdez has loved comic books. The superhero stories sustained her during her rough childhood in Miami--they were "an intangible thing that got her through her own day-to-day." When she moves to New York in 1975 and finds a job at Triumph Comics, she sees a chance to get her big break in the industry, but it doesn't turn out well--her co-workers turn out to be "a squad of over-the-hill assholes," and her boss has no interest in letting her try her hand at a writing gig. When a writer named Harvey Stern approaches her to collaborate with him on a project, unbeknownst to their boss, she warily accepts; they come up with an idea they think will surely be a hit. And it is, but Harvey is murdered, and Carmen finds out that he failed to credit her for her work before his bloody demise. So she sets out to track down his killer, all the while trying to figure out how to be recognized for her work by her oblivious, sexist boss. Meanwhile, she's forced to deal with the sudden reappearance of her ex-lover, who's shown up in New York under mysterious circumstances. Segura's book works on so many levels, it's almost hard to keep track--as a love letter to comic books, it's as powerful as anything since Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000). And as a thriller, it's smart, perfectly paced, and wonderfully atmospheric--Segura captures the intense, grimy milieu of 1970s New York with aplomb. You don't have to be a comics fan to love this novel; it's a masterful book filled with real heart and soul. A triumph.

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Starred review from January 1, 2022
It's 1975 in New York City. Patti Smith is at CBGB. Carmen Valdez learned to read English with Archie and Betty and Veronica. She leaves her Miami home to pursue a career in the comics industry but finds herself struggling in a mostly male world of obnoxious editors and fading superheroes. Finally, a break. One of the male writers asks for her help with creating a new character, a female street vigilante called "The Lethal Lynx." Carmen's contact submits the first issue without her name in the credits, and then she finds him murdered. Lynx becomes a smash hit. Carmen dares not implicate herself, although the police are relentless. Armed only with her grit and sarcasm, she stalks the killer, lynx-like, through the city and the surprisingly treacherous community of her colleagues and competitors. She wants justice, yes, but she also craves an opportunity to establish her ownership of the character. Darkest noir meets the vibrant world of comics in the hands of Segura, author of the acclaimed Pete Fernandez mystery series. No surprise that he also writes graphic novels (The Black Ghost, 2021). His reverence for the medium comes across vividly here, most pointedly through the book's mesmerizing illustrations and in the revelation that Patricia Highsmith initially wrote freelance for comics to support her literary endeavors. A superlative one-of-a-kind novel.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 11, 2022

This novel from comics creator and author Segura ("Pete Fernandez" mysteries) works on many levels: it's a coming-of-age story, a murder mystery, a paean to comic books, and a snapshot of bygone times. In 1975, young Carmen Valdez, an avid reader of comics from way back, flees family drama and a romance gone wrong in Miami. She heads to New York, when the city and the comics industry are both struggling. Dreaming of writing a series herself, she gets a job as secretary to the boss at Triumph Comics, a third-tier comics publisher. Her dreams are thwarted by sexist coworkers and her boss; nobody will give her a chance as a writer. Then her coworker Harvey suggests that they cowrite a new character and reveal her involvement to the world once it's published. But Harvey starts acting strangely and then he's murdered. The character they cocreated, the Lethal Lynx, is the first female superhero and while it's a big hit, Carmen's name isn't on the page. She must find a way to get the credit she deserves and find Harvey's killer, but she also has to deal with a dogged detective, quirky and shady characters, and her Miami troubles following her to the Big Apple. VERDICT For fans of graphic novels (this book includes panels from the protagonists' "Lethal Lynx" comics) and heroine journey stories.--Liz French

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