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Beyond the Pale Motel

Review

Beyond the Pale Motel

I grew up reading Francesca Lia Block's YA novels like WEETZIE BAT, marveling at their dreamy prose and breezy acceptance of a variety of alternative lifestyles, an easygoing attitude that seemed to go hand-in-hand with their Los Angeles settings. So when I learned that Block was coming out with her second novel for adults, BEYOND THE PALE MOTEL, I knew I should check it out.

What I found was a work that clearly conveys Block's fondness for Los Angeles, although through a more nuanced lens. It's also every bit as sexy as her Weezie Bat books, actually a lot more so. What might surprise her longtime fans is that it is also a genuinely suspenseful and, at times, pretty darn scary novel.

"Block's second outing for adults offers readers --- whether they grew up on her teen fiction or not --- a thoughtful, gritty and often sexy vision of life in Los Angeles for those who are neither rich nor famous."

The protagonist of BEYOND THE PALE MOTEL is Catt, a hairdresser and recovering alcoholic who finally seems to be on the right track. Catt longs to have a baby of her own, but makes do by spending lots of time with her godson, Skylar, the son of her best friend and coworker (and fellow recovering addict) Bree. At the opening of the novel, however, Catt's volatile relationship with her rock star husband, Dash, finally seems to be over, which sends her into a tailspin that results in a crisis of self-confidence and a series of bad decisions (including having sex with a number of men who may be hot but just don't love her).

By sleeping with strangers, Catt may be putting herself in danger. There's a murderer on the loose, dubbed the Hollywood Serial Killer by the media, and his victims are getting uncomfortably close to Catt and her circle. By the time Catt recognizes that Bree falls into the serial killer's "type," it may be too late to save either of them.

BEYOND THE PALE MOTEL is, in many ways, a more realistic and down-to-earth novel than anything I've read by Block before. Among other things, its frank depiction of the struggles of sobriety and the dispiriting nature of a relapse seem very authentically portrayed. The sex scenes as well, although undeniably erotic, lack the airbrushed dreaminess of Block's Weetzie Bat books --- Catt, as the narrator, is plenty specific about what she desires and how she achieves it.

As a suspense novel, BEYOND THE PALE MOTEL is perhaps somewhat less successful. Astute readers will likely guess the culprit quite a long ways before the big reveal; likewise, a surprising twist at the very end can read as a copout from resolving some of the narrative tensions Block introduces earlier in the story. Nevertheless, Block's second outing for adults offers readers --- whether they grew up on her teen fiction or not --- a thoughtful, gritty and often sexy vision of life in Los Angeles for those who are neither rich nor famous.

Reviewed by Norah Piehl on September 19, 2014

Beyond the Pale Motel
by Francesca Lia Block

  • Publication Date: September 16, 2014
  • Genres: Fiction, Mystery
  • Hardcover: 224 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Press
  • ISBN-10: 1250033128
  • ISBN-13: 9781250033123