Salem's Cipher by Jess Lourey

 

"They stepped into the chilly November afternoon, the tangerine and gold of the setting sun at odds with all the darkness in their lives."

This is a story about Salem, an agoraphobic cryptoanalysist, and her best friend Bel. Their mothers Vida and Grace go missing one night, leaving behind clues as to what happened to them. It's up to Salem and Bel to crack the code and find their missing moms.

The first thing that stands out to me is how fast-paced this is, unlike the few follow-the-breadcrumbs stories I've read. Salem and Bel discover a clue and immediately decode it to move onto the next. In fact, it seems almost too easy; too easy to find the clues and too easy to break them. Jess Lourey knew the story she wanted to write, but I'm not sure she made the puzzle hard enough... Or maybe the speed is a blessing, the story not taking up too much of your life to be worth reading.

In between clues, the story keeps itself moving by the switching of the POVs. There's FBI agents Stone and Clancy; Stone who is instantly attracted to Salem because what's not sexier than a crime scene, and Clancy who may or may not have been compromised by the Hermitage: a secret society founded by Andrew Jackson. We've got Jason, a seriously depraved villain, assassin for the Hermitage, working to destroy a secret society known as the Underground which is made up of women fighting for equality.

There were a few details that I didn't like though. 

First for a book that's got some pretty feministic ideals, Salem and presidential candidate Gina Hayes were both given body image issues. I suppose it's not impossible to be a feminist and self-conscious, but I really would have liked to see strong female leads embracing their own bodies.

And the attraction between Salem and Stone. It has nothing to do with anything. He likes her but they only share a few sentences in the beginning. Salem doesn't seem all that interested until the end when it's too late to do anything about it. Not that she's upset at the missed opportunity, so why even mention that Stone was attracted to her? It contributed nothing to the story.

 I also didn't understand why a savant code breaker needed so much help with clues. It felt like she was standing on the backs of people smarter than herself (at one point literally).

Over all, this was a fast paced, fun, little story, even with the character inconsistencies. I just wish Salem hadn't need a child to teach her the correct way to read a letter.