The Rivals

De: Jane Pek

Narrado por: Eunice Wong

ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST'S 10 BEST MYSTERY NOVELS OF 2024 • A witty and thought-provoking mystery that reimagines the spy story to explore the nature of relationships in a digital age: the follow-up to Jane Pek’s “thoroughly modern twist on classic detective fiction,” The Verifiers (New York Times Book Review)

“Jane Pek’s writing is really fun and will keep you hooked.”—Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Claudia Lin—mystery novel superfan and, until recently, clichéd underemployed English major—has scored her dream job: co-running Veracity, a dating detective agency for chronically online New Yorkers who want to know if their prospective partners are telling the truth. Unfortunately, along the way, she and her colleagues—tech savant Squirrel, and the elegant and intimidating Becks—have uncovered a far-reaching AI conspiracy. And the corporate matchmakers may be resorting to murder to protect their secrets.

In the wake of a client’s sudden death, Claudia convinces his ex, an industry insider, to turn on his employer and feed the verifiers information about what the powerful dating platforms are really up to. But even as Claudia starts to get a feel for this new genre—just call her Lin, Claudia Lin—she’s distracted by the possibility of romance with both Becks and a very charming target. She also fears that her beloved older brother is unwittingly being drawn into the matchmakers’ deadly web. And as Becks reminds Claudia: spy tropes dictate that someone you trust will betray you.

©2024 Jane Pek (P)2024 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK: HARPER'S BAZAAR • PASTE • CRIMEREADS • PUBLISHERS WEEKLY • ZIBBY OWENS

“In this sequel to The Verifiers, Pek again brilliantly combines a corporate espionage thriller with the messy drama of Lin’s family life.”—The Washington Post, “The 10 Best Mystery Novels of 2024”

“The sweetly sardonic amateur sleuth Claudia Lin, who first appeared in The Verifiers, returns to solve another mystery when a client of her online-dating detective agency dies in a suspicious accident.”—The New York Times

"A clever, clear-eyed take on the modern spy novel, full of wisdom and sly humor. I’d follow Claudia Lin anywhere."—Grace D. Li, New York Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief

I loved this booked!!

I didn’t read the first one! By the time I realized this was the second book I was already hooked.

There were so many twist and turns! Some of the mysteries were a little obvious but others weren’t. I liked the mix.

I really hated how the older sister put so much on the main character. I think the author captured those feelings really well. I’m rooting for them in the next book!

AI will rule the world.

It’s been a hot second since the first book came out so getting into this book was a bit hard in the beginning. I was trying to remember who was who and what had happened in the last book. Luckily as the story got into full force the author gave us insights to the last book to help with my memory. The story was interesting and very sleuth-y. I like the idea of what Verasity does and is, especially in this AI world we live in. The way it was left makes me think k another book is coming. When that will be who knows but I’ll be there when it does. The characters are full of life and some mysterious. I’m really rooting for Claudia and Becks but I dunno maybe that will change with this Dream character coming into play. All in all very good story for the second book, medium paced.

An intelligent and modern take on the spy novel!

This novel is a diamond in the ruff among the poorly written, same old spy novels that proliferate the spy landscape today. Jane Pek’s series is bright, modern, intelligent and witty take on the traditional spy novels. She interweaves modern themes, such as on-line modern dating relationships, big-brother and the new surveillance technology, with classic and ancient spy novels of old. Her heroine has the typical flaws of an intriguing searcher of both inner and outer truths with a new twist embodied by a first generation Asian women pushing back against the expectations of success of her Queens’ mother and siblings. As a sociology PHD who studies relationships— I sometimes forgot I was reading a novel as the scenarios, characters are so real. As the reader, I felt as though I were traversing Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens by bike along with Claudia as she sometimes slogs and sometimes glides into a deep underbelly of big data and the underbelly of the on-line relationship matching space. One of the best spy novels I’ve read in 20 years!!

This was hard to get through

I read The Verifiers through my library and thought it was pretty good. The Rivals didn't hold my interest. As I approached the last three hours, I couldn't take it anymore and skipped to the last half hour. The writing is overwrought. Don't waste a credit on this.

Bloated writing

I wanted to like this more! But it’s overthought, overwritten, overflowing with too many extraneous musings, details, and overly dramatic descriptions of…everything. The problem with audiobooks is you can’t quickly skim over parts of a book that add nothing to the story. I yelled out loud once or twice “move it along!”, but the book just meandered with every internal thought and heavy sentences laden thesaurus finds. It was joyless. The story’s premise is decent, though handled as if civilization was at stake. A third installment is teased; it could benefit from focus and a more relaxed telling.