The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss, by Max Wirestone

Format: e-ARC, 313 pages

Publisher: Redhook Books

Published: October 20, 2015

ISBN: 9780316385978

Genre: General Fiction (Adult)

Back cover blurb: For anyone who has ever geeked out about something and for fans of The Guild, New Girl, Scott Pilgrim, Big Bang Theory, Veronica Mars.

Meet Dahlia Moss, the reigning queen of unfortunate decision-making in the St. Louis area. She is unemployed, broke, and on her last bowl of ramen. But that’s all about to change. Before Dahlia can make her life any messier on her own she’s offered a job. A job that she’s woefully under-qualified for. A job that will lead her to a murder, an MMORPG, and possibly a fella (or two?).

My review: It has taken me forever to finish this, even though it was laugh-out-loud funny. I loved the wit and pop culture references, but about a third of the way through I suspected I wasn’t a big enough geek to actually get a lot of the in-jokes. I don’t game online or do cosplay or LARPing, and so the intricacies of Zoth had me a bit befuddled. However, after putting it down for a while, I decided to not get so bogged down in the lore and instead treat this as a snarky detective story, and then I just raced through it. Dahlia is a heroine you can’t help rooting for , and I’m so glad there’s going to be a sequel so I can see more of Nate and Detective Shuler.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 4/5

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