State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy is the first book in her new series about a White House assistant chef named Olivia Paras. Our Olivia is a modern gal. She's just walking with her shopping on the White House lawn when there is an incident - a man is evading the Secret Service. As she takes cover, she is a bit disconcerted to realize that he is coming her way. And she tries to help out. She hits him with her shopping - which just happens to be a engraved frying pan for the head chef who is retiring. Well, that gets her into all sorts of trouble. The frying pan gets confiscated and she is warned that the guy she just pummeled is a known assassin. But he is trying to tell her something about someone shooting the president...
After being warned off the situation, it keeps festering in the back of her mind. She's no fool. She realizes it did not make the news the way it really happened. Who is this guy? And why does he know the agents personally? And in the meantime, she is trying to help prepare for various important state dinners, trying out for the job opening of head chef and dealing with her boyfriend who does not want to talk about the event. What's a smart gal going to do? Turn to the Internet! There she finds out more about what is going on...
Olivia is a great character - she's smart, personable and ambitious in her field. It is refreshing to have a lead character that is no simpering miss, and takes control of the investigation - at least the parts she can control. The level of detail that Hyzy provides about the White House kitchens is excellent and adds to the fun. No worry about partisanship here - her president is made up!
A wonderful debut. I am eagerly awaiting the next installment! A fun read.
No comments:
Post a Comment