There were numerous aspects of this book that I appreciated, and a few annoyances. It's up to you to decide if the good outweighs the iffy.

The Good includes:
-single POV.
-spunky teen girl protagonist.
-the setting is well-described. As a former French teacher, there were many landmarks and correct phrases, etc. mentioned in the book. That is not always true with stories set in foreign places, and it can really take you out of the story.
-mystery. It's pretty twisty-turny. There is plenty of action.
-side characters are fairly well-developed.
-not shy. The murders are pretty brutal. If you watch true crime, you'll like this aspect of the book.

The Iffy includes:
-slow start. The plot doesn't really get moving until 25-30% through the book.
-spunky teen girl protagonist borders on whiny and unbelievable. She wanders Paris in the late 1880s alone as a 16 year-old. This caused so much side-eye.
-drawn out ending. The story comes to a natural conclusion, but continues through two more endings.

Wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I disliked most of the characters and had a hard time staying invested in the story.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 4.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

I love this book so much. Jodie gives us such an intriguing world filled with creepy moments that fascinate us. I can’t wait to read more from Jodie. I absolutely love this book and recommend it to everyone. Nathalie has such heart as a character and I can’t wait to see more about her.

I really enjoyed this! The mystery was really well done and there was a lot of interesting subplots and side characters and complexities. I also loved that there wasn't really a romance? There were hints there, but it was very minor to the plot. The main mystery wrapped up a little early for me, but there were added components to help the story not feel like it's dragging on. I'm also intrigued because where it ended left room for a second book and I'm curious what would be done with that.

I'll be honest, this wasn't my cup of tea. The story didn't flow well, and I wasn't a fan of the writing style. The story was just eh, in my opinion.

Fantastic debut with a touch of supernatural! I absolutely loved our heroine. Such a fresh and unique YA book. It really spoke to me. Mystery and solid writing. I loved it!

This is a historical fiction novel set in Paris in the 1800s. Our main character is a journalist who decides to investigate a serial killer after she begins to have visions of women being killed in Paris. Her journey leads her across the city, and eventually in the catacombs.
I love historical fiction novels, and this one was a very atmospheric depiction of 19th century Paris. I especially love spooky books, so any novel that takes place in the catacombs is a winner in my book.
The only real drawback to this book for me was the writing. It was just a little dry for my taste, but I still really enjoyed this novel.

Spectacle by Jodi Lynn Zdrock is a young adult, historical murder mystery with a twist of supernatural. The ending was definitely not quite what I was expecting so I’m not quite sure I really enjoyed this story. The beginning was dark and excellent. I was hooked after her initial vision. And then there was the potential blooming romance in spite of the horrors of the public morgue. I’m kind of speechless with how I can write this review. I’m just not entirely sure what to say.

Nathalie Baudin’s family was hit by an unexpected tragedy. When her mother’s hands are burned she can no longer work as a tailor so Nathalie manages to get a job for Le Petit Journal as its daily morgue reporter. In 1887 Paris that is unheard of since Nathalie is 16 years old and female. She is forced to go in disguise at the paper when she turns in her articles because the newspaper editor can’t have people knowing he has a female journalist on staff.

At the beginning of the novel, Nathalie is visiting the morgue in anticipation of writing her article when she sees a grossly mutilated young woman’s body. She touches the glass pane between her and the victim when suddenly she is overcome with a scene that plays out the woman’s murder. In the vision, she sees herself killing the young woman as if she were the murderer. Then when a second woman is killed and she has the vision again, she tries to remember every detail in order to try and catch the killer.

Nathalie’s visions have a consequence. She loses memories. And since she doesn’t know what she is forgetting, she begins to write down as much information as she can in order to figure out what is happening to her. In the meantime, Nathalie begins to learn about some experiments that could be the answer to her visions. She begins to investigate the experiments just as much as she’s trying to hunt down the killer.

The main story had some crazy twists but they seemed too easy for the main character. I didn’t really like how some of it played out. The x gene experiments… oops I mean the blood experiments were a little confusing but I may have just missed a detail when reading. Like, something else had to be happening during the transfusions to give people powers…

I did have one major problem with this story, there was a huge fact error. I did read an ARC so I’m hoping it was fixed by the time it was published. Christophe shows up a Nathalie’s apartment, out of the blue, to let her know there was another victim… but then several chapters later it was brought up that Christophe didn’t know where Nathalie lived and they were both shocked that he bought an apartment in the same area. So I’m hoping that scene got fixed or chopped in the final copy.

Now I just want to talk about the ending… Spectacle did end. It wrapped up the main murder mystery but it still felt like it ended on a cliffhanger… like wth? Is there going to be a sequel? I’m also really confused by the relationship between Nathalie and Christophe. He set Nathalie straight but yet it doesn’t feel like that relationship is done either… If this is a standalone book then I’m even more confused by their relationship. All in all, Spectacle was an enjoyable read but it wasn’t great. I really loved the setting of Paris and the Catacombs but was completely horrified by the public morgue.

Exciting and well-written. I was fearing that this would be anachronistic (like 'Stalking Jack the Ripper', whose plot I thought 'Spectacle' resembled), but I was pleasantly surprised, both by the characters' and by the plot's depth. Gladly recommended to lovers of YA, murder mysteries and historical fiction in general.

Thank you for the ARC!

This book gave me major Jack the Ripper vibes but I appreciate the author trying to delve away from that by creating her own serial killer the Dark Artist and having it set in France instead of England. But the ending of this book left a lot lacking and if I think it was written differently this might have had a five star rating from moi.

Nathalie Baudin is a sixteen year old girl living in Paris in a time most women did not have a decent education, a job, or respect really. They were just considered to marry well and to birth many children. But Nahtalie has been given a opportunity to be a journalist and for the morgue column no less. In this age the morgue is open for all passerby's to see all the corpses laid out on slabs. When Nathalie touches the glass after a particular gruesome murder of a woman she sees a vision of the woman's demise but silent and in reverse. While in this trance it is later found out that whatever the killer says she repeats out loud and she loses some of her memory as well. This leads to her saying the victim's name and causing suspicion of the morgue director Christophe. More woman are found brutally murdered and every time Nathalie has a vision when she touches the glass. She begins to fear this gift as it gets the killers attention who starts to write letters to the Le Petit Journal signed The Dark Artist and one of them is addressed specifically to her. But her friend Simone encourages Nathalie to use her gift to hunt the killer but for a while Nathalie can't bring herself to touch the glass again after more women are found dead. During all this Nathalie finds more information about herself and that she is not the only one with a gift. She is an insightful and her own father is one too with her gift of healing. Even the head of the journal that gave Nathalie job has his own gift of being able to detect the truth through what someone says either on paper or out loud. It is discovered that Nathalie's aunt is an insightful as well with her premonitions in her dreams but has been locked away in an asylum for acting out violently through these vision. She also communicates with her friend Agnes who is away on vacation during this time and when Agnes returns she is unfortunately killed by the Dark Artist due to her connection to Nathalie. That changes the gears and makes Nathalie realize she must embrace her gift to avenge her friend's murder. With the help of Christophe, Simone, as well as Simone's beau Louie they try to find out the killer before he can claim more lives, putting Nathalie's life in danger in the process. But a shocking discovery is made that the Dark Artist himself is another corpse laid out in the morgue but someone continues to prowl the streets of Paris and threatens Nathalie's life. It turns out that the Dark Artist's beau named Zoe had murdered him who was an accomplice in the murders. She did this to try to infuse her Beau's blood into her own body to make it stronger for he was an insightful as well as many other of the victims. She wanted Nathalie's blood to retain her own gift but is torn apart by an angry mob before she could do so, leaving the streets of Paris now safe but at a high price of Nathalie losing her memory of several weeks after touching Zoe's corpse.

Historical Fiction is a favorite of mine and I think the author depicted it well. I listened to this on audio and the narrator was fantastic with adding the french accent and also pronouncing the words that were in French perfectly. This novel kept me riveted with the body count piling up and the heart wrenching plot device of Agne's death to help drive Nathalie's character development forward. I also appreciate there being no romance even though it seemed inclined that way for a bit but Christophe made it thankfully clear that he is engaged and only sees Nathalie as a friend. But the ending was so anti-climatic I couldn't help be so disappointed that the main villain is taken out by a angry mob. Also the cliffhanger ending is confusing since I thought this book was a stand alone but maybe there will be more but it is left uncertain. Overall not a bad take on Historical Fiction.

The very first thing I need to do is thank NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy. The second is to apologize for how long it took me to finish it, but I have a very a few good reasons. I simply couldn't "get into it."

Spectacle is set in Paris, France in the 1880's or thereabouts. We follow a young girl named Nathalie, who is the current morgue journalist. The morgue displays all deceased individuals partly for identity purposes, and partly for side-show attraction. While there, Nathalie touches the viewing pane and has a terrible vision of one young woman being murdered. Horribly shaking, Nathalie soon discovers that this is not a descent into madness. Instead it is magic, one which she strives to figure out how she possessed. While searching for answers, Nathalie also searches for a killer whom seems to know quite a bit about her, too.

I did enjoy the overall plot of this story. I mainly enjoyed the author's writing. Zdrok uses such eloquent phrases that make Paris come alive. It's clear that the city is living in fear, and anticipation. It makes the reader feel like they can be immersed in the late 1800's, early 1900's when the times were a bit more gruesome. I really believe one of the reasons I could not enjoy this novel was because it felt too real. I normally love books like this, but the reading of the dead bodies on display, and how the citizens practically ate up the drama turned my stomach. That's not something the writer can prevent, nor should she. It's a personal preference of this reviewer. If Zdrok had left that out, then it would have left a significant gap in the novel.

The biggest issue I had with the novel was the main character Nathalie. She was incredibly whiny. I expected her to feel fear, apprehension, denial, and a host of other emotions. However, she was just couldn't seem to make up her mind about what she wanted to do. One minute, she wants to use this power, and the next she doesn't, because she is afraid. Unfortunately because of her, I had to stop. Nathalie just is not a strong female character to me, and I wish she had made a decision and followed it. I feel that would have made the story stronger, but also would have finessed the ending a little better. Without spoilers, I have to say the ending disappointed me. We are left with a slight cliff hanger, but not an overly tempting one if you are like me and don't like Nathalie.

The smaller issue I had wasn't an issue but it was distracting. The love interest. It felt so insignificant to the story and had no bearing on the outcomes. If it had affected the ending, then I would have understood it but it was just there. Why? Maybe Zdrok will give more explanation in the second book....

Overall I rated this novel 3 out of 5 stars. As I said, Zdrok's writing is eloquent and exact. I remember Paris from my own experiences. Granted there is a different between 1880 and 2006, but I remember the smells and the weather, and Zdrok does a beautiful job of bringing it to the reader. As of right now I think I will read the second book, which is set to be published February 2020, if for no other reason than to see the character development of Nathalie.

This one was spot on. First of all historical fiction which happens to be late 1880s France is a beautiful backdrop. We have a young lady who is writing in a morgue column but longs for more important work. She is then haunted by a premonition of a girl from the killers POV and finds only she is getting the advantage to find this monster. I honestly loved the writing, characters, the setting all of it. I will be owning the hard cover.

Nathalie Baudin is a writer for Le Petit Journal- most impressively, she is just sixteen years old and she writes the daily morgue column. But, one day during the morgue viewings, a murder victim sets off a vision for Nathalie. She sees the killing in detail, but from the eyes of the killer.

The book definitely did a great job of transporting you to the time period and setting, but sometimes I felt like the story went off the rails a little, and the ending left a little to be desired.

All in all, 3.5/5 stars.

**I received a copy of this book from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review**

This book is basically Nellie Bly (one of my favorite historical figures) with supernatural powers, so what is there not to love?

I'm not an expert (but I did major in history, so I'm no idiot), but the historical setting felt very real and well researched. It was a great blend of fantasy and realism.

Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone who likes historical fiction, murder mysteries, or Kerri Maniscalco's books.

'Spectacle' is a taut young adult historical mystery that blends both thrills and the supernatural to create something fresh for the YA genre. I'm a huge fan of mysteries and thrillers, so this was immediately on my radar. I wasn't sure what to expect and went in with a pretty open mind. What I got was surprisingly better than I thought and I enjoyed it more than I had anticipated.

The main character, Nathalie, is a very realistic female lead for the book. She has her strengths and weaknesses, like we all do, and it made connecting with her really easy right from the beginning. She's strong, determined, a loving daughter and friend, wants to do what's right and to find justice and answers to her newfound abilities. I liked getting to know Nathalie throughout the course of the book and enjoyed seeing her character change and grow as the story progressed. The plot itself was solid and intriguing, but I will admit that it took a little while for me to get really engrossed in the story. Things seemed to go too slow with too many details on unimportant details and I found my mind drifting quite a bit. As the book continues, the pace and anticipation also picks up and I found it hard to put down after that point. I wanted to know who the murderer was, why was he doing these things, and everything that concerned Nathalie. There were some twists and turns thrown in that I didn't see coming and took me by surprise, which doesn't happen often. The book is told in the third person point of view, from Nathalie's perspective. This isn't my favorite writing style and I think if the story had been written in the first person with Nathalie as the narrator, I would've been a lot more connected with her and invested in the plot as a whole. Overall, this was a great book and I definitely recommend it to fans of YA, historical fiction, mystery, thrillers, fantasy, and supernatural.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy of this.


OMG! My heart jumped when I was approved for this! GUYS!!!! This book was one of my most anticipated.

I absolutely loved this book! Spectacle was set in the late 1800's in France. Nathalie, the main character, just got a job reporting about the public morgue. In the meantime, Paris is hit with a series of murders and the main character discovers that she has a gift that allows her to see the murders through the eyes of the murderer. I LOVED this concept. This was so interesting. But she soon discovers that this gift doesn't come without consequences. She also learns that other people in the city are gifted in different ways and maybe these gifts are connected to the murders.

I loved the world building. This was definitely a must read.

I was really looking forward to this book. The type of story is exactly what I love. Historical, murder mystery and strong female lead. I enjoyed the story and the unique ability of the main character. I just had a hard time getting into this one. I found myself putting it down often due to some slow pacing. There were several instances where I was like “get on with the story already”. Overall it’s a good read and I do recommend it.

Great historical fantasy! Nathalie (love that name too) is an easily to relate to character with a weird job: visiting the Paris Morgue's display of the unclaimed/ unidentified dead. While most people visit this to gawk, the real role of it is to allow for the bodies to be identified by family and friends for burial. Nathalie's job is do a daily write-up for the paper about the bodies there.

It's all pretty mundane for her until the day she sees the body of a brutally murdered girl and gets a vision for the perspective of the girl's murderer. These visions, and murders, propel her down a course of adventure and mystery.

Spectacle was one of my most highly anticipated books for 2019, and it didn’t disappoint! It’s an atmospheric tale of murder and magic that I found completely enthralling.

There are two main characters in this book: Nathalie, a young journalist writing morgue reports during a spate of murders, and Paris. As in, the city. I don’t exactly mean that in a Neverwhere sort of way – the city itself isn’t magical, or alive – but the impression of Paris that you get from Spectacle is so strong and detailed and textured that it almost feels like a character. Though I have never seen the places described, the way that Nathalie describes her surroundings is so immersive – I felt like I was there. It’s not always pretty in Paris (in fact, there’s a very realistic depiction of the danger and dirt of the city) but it is mesmerising.

The horror aspects of the story are really nicely done, and left me intrigued and unnerved without being outright scared. Now, I’m a huge scaredy-cat, so I don’t think people looking for full-on horror will find it here, but I thought it was the perfect spice to make the story really sing. And of course, the story is also peppered with magic, when Nathalie realises that she can relive the last memories of the serial killer’s victims. It’s kinda gruesome and fascinating in equal measure – I’m not a true-crime sort of person, but I can see why people are so interested in it, and I think this gave me some insight into how it feels to look at the darker side of humanity.

This is a fairly dense read, but it feels luxurious, like a long lunch in a Parisian café. I was so captivated by Nathalie’s need to find out about her magic that I was flipping pages like nobody’s business towards the end! I thought it was a really unique mix of historical texture and magic, and it just really worked for me – I was glad it didn’t fall into the clichés of YA too much. I think the meticulously described Paris setting stopped it from getting too fantastic, and the mysterious magic powers sent this much further up my street than a murder mystery might otherwise have been! I’m very excited to keep an eye on Jodie Lynn Zdrok in the future, as I think her writing is fantastic – those looking for some YA that breaks the mould should definitely give this a go.
Five out of five stars!