Author EP Spiegel’s Capfield series reminds me of that quote from Ferris Bueller, you know the one where he says, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” And the fourth book of the series–the final one–is no different. Over the Alley Fences takes readers on an emotional, exhilarating ride, and I sure hope you choose to go on it too.
(Psst… here’s the link to the mini vlog, you can access the full length one from there)
Where do I even begin? Well, I was lauding the last installment of the series because in it, we saw that Cage wasn’t necessarily all bad, and even the omniscient narrator of book four validates this idea. But man alive, Cage takes a dastardly turn and even though you know he makes these fatal choices out of fear and pain, you can’t help but lose hope and see him as evil.
By the way, I really hope you got those life/death hints… I was having a Mercutio moment there, remember his “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man,” line? Well, at least three characters get to have the same vibe.
Mini synopsis time–book four picks up where book two left off (sorta book three as well, but most of that installment was basically a prequel to the whole series). The Rat Pack are hunting Cage; both he and Jet are simultaneously hell bent and weary about killing each other; Winter, Wesley, and Levi are all on lockdown; and Ted’s complaining about losing his gosh darn coat.
Book four returns to the action and adventure, however, so its style harkens back to that of the first book, rather than focusing on character development. There’s a lot of investigating the Peacock theater, planning traps and escapes, chasing each other through rainy, confusing alleys… it’s exciting. I devoured the book because I just had to know who would come out on top! But then my heart was broken at times to find out just who was the victor. You know how there’s that saying about winning the battle vs. winning the war? Well, not to spoil too much, but Cage won more battles than I’d like, even if he did eventually lose everything.
Even so, his final loss was so poetic, and that’s something I love about Spiegel’s writing. Not only does she sprinkle clues throughout the book, but she just goes so in depth. For example, at the beginning of Fences, she re-describes all the main characters–I adored that. For me, I think it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of what’s happening, that it’s just as easy to forget stuff like character’s personality (at times) or what they look like. So, for Spiegel to remind us of Lucky’s green mohawk or Jet’s ponytail, it was a nice little treat.
What was also a treat was finding out how Jet got hooked up with Lucky and Isaac in the first place–it was clear that they had known each other for a long time, but to actually learn how they met was sweet.
Ah–it’s just such a good book! And I loved the ending, funnily enough, while reading it, I couldn’t help but think it was a little cheesy. But it’s one of those endings that sticks with you, and the more I think of it, the more I love it. There’s a real sense of closure with the Rat Pack… even though part of you gets crushed along the way.
I really can’t think of too many reasons why you might not like it. Of course, the whole patricide/pedicide/murder thing might be off-putting… but it’s a book about hitmen, so that’s kind of part of the package. I do wish that with some of the other loose ends Spiegel tied up that she would’ve had Ted finally meet his mom, or to have Ted and Winter’s relationship background cleared up a little more… Then again, since Capfield is really the story of the Dukes and Cages, I think it’s a solid read and satisfying ending.
That’s it, I don’t have anymore thoughts on the Capfield books, but if others come out, I’m definitely down to check them out! Be sure to keep an eye out for next week’s posts on the next Marchetti book by KristiferAnn… we’ve got all the crime books this month
Happy Reading!
A Little Bit of Happiness 