Seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is visiting a house in New Orleans at the end of 1949 owned by a woman, Willie, whom she gets to know. Josie enjoys talking to her, even telling her about her school life and how she skipped first grade. But the conversation goes downhill when Josie refuses things Willie offers.
On her way to work, Josie runs into a man, Frankie, who works for Willie. He tells her about an old man, Marlowe, whom she is close to, and says that he is dying. He also gives her a piece of paper that has the word, Cincinnati.
Josie continues to work, even on New Year’s Eve. Later, she visits a man, Mr. Marlowe, who is doing better. Another guy she knows, Patrick, happens to be at the house, too. She tells him about the death of a man, Mr. Hearne, who died.
Josie is desperate to go to college, though. She even has a plan that she laid out for it. But the death of Mr. Hearne gets in her way. Even worse, a dangerous guy tries to attack her. She even tells her mother about it.
However, her mom will not believe her. She even gives her a hard time about what she said about that man. Josie continues to go through more drama with other people until she is forced into the investigation of Mr. Hearne’s passing.
This book was a face-paced read that kept my interest all the way through. I also admired the short chapters, which made the story seem quicker. The writing was mostly easy to understand.
That being said, the story was hard to follow at times. One aspect that made it difficult to understand was the high amount of backstory. There were even long paragraphs that discussed Josie’s past.
Another issue I had was the number of characters introduced within the chapters. There were so many of them that it was hard to pick up on what they were like. A lot of them sounded the same, as well.
Regardless of the flaws, the story remained engaging. I especially loved Josie and how she was sassy at times. She was also fierce and would not let anyone get in her way of achieving what she wanted.
This book is targeted toward young adults and teens. But parents need to know that there is mature content in it. They include language, smoking, drinking, drug use, and even sexual content.
Overall, I enjoyed Out of the Easy. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to check out historical novels that involve mysteries. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.