Veronica Mars: An Original Mystery by Rob Thomas: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line (Veronica Mars Series)

With her father Keith still recovering from the injuries he sustained in the car crash, Veronica takes over Mars Investigations. Veronica is beginning to worry about keeping the bills paid when Petra Landros, ex-model owner of the Neptune Grand and an influential member of the Neptune Chamber of Commerce, walks into the office and presents Veronica with a case: Hayley Dewalt, one of the hordes of spring breakers who flock to Neptune each year, went missing a week ago, and--to put it in the simplest of terms--her disappearance is bad for the tourism business. So Landros hires Veronica on the Chamber's and Hayley's parents' behalves in the hope that the girl's discovery (or recovery) will curb the influx of reservation cancellations and restore the town's seasonal profits. Veronica delves into the case of what could be a kidnapping, murder, voluntary disappearance, or some combination of the three. Due to the fact that the Neptune Chamber of Commerce foots the bill for all of Sheriff Dan Lamb's campaign expenses, the narcissistic and corrupt sheriff is required to assist Veronica however he can along the way. When Veronica--with sidekick Wallace--infiltrates the house where Hayley was last seen under the guise of being a spring breaking coed named Amber, she is led to believe the two hosts of the party are involved in the disappearance in some way. Eduardo and Rico Gutierrez, however hospitable they may be, are on the payroll of the powerful Milenios cartel, notorious for their ruthless killings and and wanton acts of cruelty. But as the case of Hayley Dewalt's disappearance progresses, suddenly another girl goes missing: Aurora Scott, only 16 years old, disappears from the same party at the same beachfront mansion where Veronica had been under cover the night before. When Aurora's parents make an appearance on the morning news to appeal to the kidnappers for their daughter's return, Veronica is confronted by a ghost from her past and another layer of complexity is added to the seemingly insurmountable case. The Thousand Dollar Tan Line unfolds in much the same way as the larger mysteries of the show; Veronica takes on the case, interviews the immediate family, and then begins to stake out the leads and fill out the missing information piece by piece. She goes undercover a couple times at huge, wild party, first to look for anyone who might have information about Hayley's last sighting, and then to locate the guy who pawned Hayley's necklace the day after her disappearance. There's quite a bit of leg work too; she travels to Stanford, San Diego, and eventually a gas station in Bakersfield. Much of the time, though, Veronica is sifting through the information she has, hoping it'll come together in a way it hadn't before and yield answers. The interesting thing about reading about Veronica solving a mystery rather than watching is that you can follow even the minutiae of her thoughts. For example, she starts carrying around a notebook and taking notes while she's interviewing family, friends, and leads; if you've seen the show, you'll know she's never done that before, and even in the book she states she doesn't do this in order to remember things better. Rather, it's a tactic for extracting information: Pauses in questioning and avoiding eye contact gives the person more time to consider what they're saying, or if they're withholding information it gives them the chance to decide to come forth with whatever it was they were trying to hide. It was neat to get such thorough insight into Veronica's actions and behaviors that you wouldn't get in the show, even with a voiceover. Granted, not every little flip of her hair had some sort of investigative significance, but there were some instances, like with the notebook, where her actions were calculated and had purpose. Overall the book was very enjoyable to read, especially as a fan of the show and film. The only thing I can think of that didn't quite ring true, at least for me, was Veronica's dialogue. The character of Veronica Mars is very sassy, witty, sarcastic, and she has puns and pop culture references for days. I feel like Veronica's dialogue in the book was a bit weak; she definitely wasn't at the top of her game. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with Thomas having co-written this book with the Jennifer Graham woman--like maybe he wrote specific scenes or passages and then she fleshed out everything else based on his outlines, or something to that effect--, but while reading the book, several times I thought to myself, "This just doesn't quite sound like Veronica." And there were several instances where Veronica would say something or react to something being said and I would think, "No. There's no way Veronica would say that," or "Veronica would never pass up the chance for a witty come-back." At times, it was almost like Veronica seemed a bit passive, which, again, is totally out of the ordinary for her character. Having said that, I still enjoyed this book very much. I read it over like six hours in two sittings because I just couldn't put it down. Although I have one minor gripe with the book--mainly in terms of the execution--the content is mostly there, and it's still Veronica Mars. As for a quantitative rating, I would give Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line a solid 5 out of 5. It's hard for me to say whether or not someone who hasn't seen the show and film would enjoy this book as much as a fan because, obviously, I'm biased, but I do believe that there is a quality whodunit here, even if it might be a little bland to the non-fan. I can say with complete confidence, however, that any fan of Veronica Mars will very much enjoy this first installment in Rob Thomas' new book series.

So let me say up front that I really liked the book and would recommend it for any fan of the series. I blazed through this book and despite the critique that follows enjoyed every minute of the story. It's an easy read and quite entertaining but it can't help but feel like a watered down version of the television series. The central mystery is interesting and kept me guessing the whole way through but the individual beats still felt off somehow. The biggest problem is that there is no sense of the interesting class and social divisions that plague Neptune and made the series so interesting. Veronica Mars is at its best when personal justice and the legal system are pitted against one another when what Veronica believes to be right doesn't quite square with what the law would tell us should happen. That isn't here. Neither is there an engaging social dynamic at play. The story teases us with something about why the City Council prefers to have an incompetent sheriff but never really deals with that issue. On the other hand Rob Thomas and his co-author nail the transition to books by capturing the characters you know and love. While a line or two might ring false by and large the characters read true. Unfortunately, the familiar faces can feel shoe horned in at times rather than their appearances feeling organic. The films reunion gave a good enough reason to see the people we knew float in and out of the story but the references here can come off forced particularly with reappearances by Norris and Weavil who have little role to play in the plot. No one would question Wallace hanging at the edges of Veronica's life but minor appearances by others can feel like nudging reminders that the author a fan too and see she watched the show you liked and remembers the people. While I have heard some people complain about the shift to the third person story telling it honestly didn't bother me as the prose is written in such a way as to capture Veronicas internal monologue most of the time. If you really need to solidify that feeling though I would highly recommend picking up the audiobook read by Kristen Bell.

Since I have not seen anything of Veronica Mars chronicles, I did not have any preconceived ideas when I began to read The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, but it was far better than the average I generally expect to find. The best part for me, from a smooth-writing perspective, was the lack of 'clangers' in vocabulary which occasionally are dropped even by established writers. [The odd 'between' when 'among' is correct for more than two people or things is virtually inescapable nowadays, so it scarcely counts.] The story was interesting, the characters engaging; I hope to see more writing from this new-to-me author very soon.

Für alle Veronica Mars-Fans ein schönes Sequel zum Film. Und ja, es funktioniert auch als Buch. Bei jedem Satz hat man die Darsteller vor Augen. Ein wirklich gut durchdachter Fall, der viel Freude macht. Und eine Veronica Mars in Höchstform. Ihre Befindlichkeiten und Beziehungen kommen ein wenig zu kurz. Etwas mehr Logan wäre schön gewesen. Aber dann wiederum wurde sie ja auch immer als ein Mensch dargestellt, der sich in die Arbeit stürzt und versucht wenig über ihre Probleme zu brüten. Ich habe auf jeden Fall richtig Lust auf das nächste Buch.

Da grande amante della serie tv devo dire che ho divorato questo libro in un paio di giorni. Certo è in inglese ma ha una scrittura semplice e scorre molto bene. La storia riparte esattamente nel momento in cui è terminato il film, sembra di stare in una delle puntate della serie, con la storia narrata dal punto di vista di Veronica e i soliti intrighi di Neptune. Consigliatissimo!

This review was first published at M's Bookshelf - http://mssbookshelf.blogspot.be I'm a huge Veronica Mars fan. There, I said it. I was incredibly sad when the show ended, ecstatic when the movie came out and now oh-so-relieved that this book didn't disappoint. It's everything you would expect from a Veronica Mars case. It has so many unexpected twists and turns, but more importantly: it has Veronica Mars. I mean, how fantastic is she? Maybe Kristen Bell gives the on-screen Veronica that little extra "va va voom", but there really was no awkward transition from page to screen. The story kicks off right where the movie left off. Veronica is back in Neptune at Mars Investigations. And let's face it, that's where we love her the most. She's clever, determined and a little reckless (as usual, right?), with Mac, Wallace and of course Keith loyally by her side. [Spoiler alert if you haven't seen the movie yet] Of course Logan is on a mission abroad so he's not really in the picture, but it still makes me really happy knowing they found each other again. Lucky for us, Marshmallow fans, this is the first book in a series, so I got my fingers crossed we'll see more of Logan in the following books. So we're back in Neptune in time for spring break. The entire town is filled with (mostly drunk) college students having "the time of their lives". Even the report of a missing girl can't stop the partying. That's until Veronica Mars is hired for the job. She immediately sinks her teeth in and even a corrupt, lazy sheriff can't stop her (although let's face it, has a Lamb brother ever succeeded in 'keeping V. in check'?). The story is fast paced and keeps surprising you. It keeps you guessing (although V. is of course always a few steps ahead of you when things heat up), and reminiscing about Veronica's high school days. I can't tell you enough how amazingly happy I am to have another chapter in the "Veronica Mars story". I cannot wait to read the second book (really, if I had a copy I would start reading right away), and hopefully Rob writes many more of these. Absolutely brilliant!

Ce livre prend la suite du film, ça se passe quelques semaines après. C'est très fidèle : on se sent complètement dans l'univers Veronica Mars et pas juste un livre "drame-policier" (ce que je redoutais le plus). De plus l'enquête est prenante, lecture très rapide (l'anglais est plutôt facile d'après moi, je n'ai même pas utiliser de dictionnaire). J'espère qu'il y aura une suite !