Everett Owens

Rob Thomas, creator of TV’s Veronica Mars and editor of this collection of essays about the show, calls it “a must-read” for fans of the series. It certainly is, but let’s also be clear from the outset – if you’ve never seen the show, you will have no interest in this book. If you’ve seen some, but not all, of the show, wait until you watch the whole thing before reading this book and having major (and minor) spoilers revealed.

For fans of the show (especially ones like me who show more have watched it repeatedly), this book is so deliciously good. It opens with the humorous (to me anyway) essay that rates the main characters and (major) minor characters on their percentage of camp vs. noir. Despite loving the show, I do have to admit that some things in it are a bit ridiculous, particularly when you pull them out of context and this essay helped to point that out.

After this initial one, the essays become more serious and provide some food for thought about underlying themes and symbolism. Multiple essayists mentioned the overt symbolism of Abel Koontz and Jake Kane having names similar to the biblical Cain and Abel, and I have to admit that never even occurred to me, even though it did become ridiculously obvious once it was pointed out. Another essayist wrote about domesticity in the season one finale, noting that the episode being named “Leave It to Beaver” was a play on that television show and how Neptune families were far from picture-perfect TV. Again this has never occurred to me earlier; I had just taken the episode’s title literally because Beaver’s information helped to crack the case of Lilly’s murder.

Other interesting insights come directly from Rob Thomas himself, who writes short prefaces to each essay. Amongst other things, he writes about how the story grew and developed. For instance, he notes that he never intended for Logan to become a love interest for Veronica but the chemistry between the characters and the actors ended up pushing the plot in that direction. Thomas also describes technical details and why some things must be filmed a certain way. For example, he explains that Backup, the Mars' dog, hardly ever shows up in any scene other than when it's required because having a dog and a dog trainer on the set is incredibly costly. He also points out that he knows dorm rooms aren't usually that large, but the size of the filming equipment requires the rooms to be large unless the director chooses only to have one angle for an entire scene (or series of scenes if the show takes place at a college, as the third season of Veronica Mars does).

Personally, I found the formatting of the book a bit odd because these tidbits from Thomas would have made more sense after reading the essay in question and getting the context of the information he shares. Likewise, the essays all end with a brief biography of the author, and I honestly think the opposite would have made more sense. Given the wide variety of backgrounds the essayists possess (novelists, screenwriters, TV critics, psychologists, etc.), it would probably be good to understand a bit of their background and where they are coming from before launching into their essays. However, these are minor complaints, and obviously, if you so chose, you could easily flip to the end of an essay and read the bio first before reading through the full essay and then flip back to the beginning and read Thomas's comments afterwards.

As the third season was only part-way through when this book was published, many of the essays just address the first two seasons or touch very briefly on season three while focusing mainly on the other seasons. This also means there's no opportunity to discuss the very end of the series, including its depressing final scene (as Rob Thomas and others say on the DVD extras) or how it might have gone on had the show continued for at least another season. On the flip side, it also means that we're not subject to a lot of whining about how the show is no longer on. Don't get me wrong, I'm sad the show ended prematurely, but I think 20 essays all saying that would become annoying after a while.

Out of the roughly 20 essays, there were only two I did not enjoy. "The Duck and the Detective" took the mentions of Veronica Mars in the conservative political cartoon strip Mallard Fillmore as a starting point to examine what elements of the show would appeal to conservatives. I honestly didn't have much interest in the topic of this essay but I also felt like the author didn't necessarily convince me of his arguments either. In “The Importance of Not Being Earnest,” Heather Havrilesky flippantly refers to disillusionment as a puerile high school attitude and then goes on to -- and I'm not joking here -- compare her being dumped by her boyfriend of three months in high school to Veronica being raped at party, abandoned by her mother, and having her best friend murdered. The whole essay actually read like the ramblings of someone still stuck in a high school mentality, despite her protestations that the only people who remain disillusioned as adults are the ones who haven't grown up and are forced to "wear lint-covered Cosby sweaters, eat at the same really bad diner three nights a week, and proselytize about how pets are better than spouses." It ended an otherwise fabulous book with a sour taste in my mouth.

Otherwise, my feelings about the book were that I wish there was more of it so I could continue to examine and re-examine Veronica Mars. show less

"Mr. Kiss and Tell" takes place six months after "The Thousand Dollar Tan Line", Veronica is still in Neptune and more settled than she was when we last left her. While her Dad and Weevil work to take down Sheriff Lamb and his corrupt department Veronica finds herself in the middle of a case she just can't seem to get any leads on.

The Neptune Grand has hired Veronica to prove or (hopefully) disprove a young woman's claim that she was beaten, raped and strangled in their hotel by one of show more their employees. The only thing is the assault happened months ago, the victim has a fuzzy memory at best and the accused assailant was deported back to Mexico right before the victim identified him. On top of all that the victim won't reveal the name of her long time boyfriend who she was suppose to meet that night.

It's complicated enough without adding in the fact that Veronica has a history with the victim.

Reading "Mr. Kiss and Tell" was like binge watching 8 episodes of Veronica Mars. Rob Thomas know's no bounds when it comes to Veronica and the characters that surround her.

He never leaves a stone unturned or a loose end. All the details are immaculate and with each page it gets better and better.

As I read I could see each character, their mannerisms the way they walk, talk, eat. All down to the tiniest details of how they raise their eyebrows or smirk when no one's watching.

I love how it's never just a random victim, a nameless, faceless nobody who wanders in off the street. There is always a connection, the past colliding head on with the present and future at unstoppable speeds.

And then, of course, there's Logan.

LoVe.

Epic.

Logan Echolls.

Don't get me wrong, I love all the other characters, Mac, Wallace, Weevil, Leo. But if you're a marshmallow, like me, you're heart longs for those Logan and Veronica scenes. This book will not disappoint you on that front.

Hell who am I kidding? It won't disappoint you at all. It's classic Veronica and everyone knows you don't fix what isn't broken.

From her witty comments to her puppy dog eyes and her fiery temper, Veronica Mars is so much more than a character. Whether on the big screen or in print you're instantly sucked into her world and when the credits roll or the last sentence is read you find yourself begging for more.

That is exactly what I find myself doing right now, it's weeks before the release date of "Mr. Kiss and Tell" and I'm already trying to find out when I can get my hands on the third installment.

It's crazy I know, "Then again, you ever hear the one about the junkie who was satisfied with just one more taste of the good stuff? Neither have I."

Until next time,
Ginger

In compliance with FTC guidelines I am disclosing that this book was given to me for free to review.
My review is my honest opinion. show less

This book captured the listless discontent of my teen years with uncomfortable accuracy. As such, it could have been a very depressing read, but the sensitivity and humor of the narration make this one of my favorite YA novels.

This, along with the first season DVDs, was the gift of a friend who hoped I'd love it as much as she did--and I did. I think it's one of the best television series I've ever seen. As the back cover puts it: "Veronica is an outcast in a trendy SoCal beach town. Once she ran with Neptune High's in crowd. But she's on the outside after her best friend is murdered and her sheriff father accuses the wrong man as the perp: the dead girl's millionaire father." That's not the only complication. All show more the characters on this series have secrets and sides to them not obvious at first.

The show reminds me of Buffy in its mix of darkly funny and moving. Only instead of being part of a paranormal genre, this is more Nancy Drew as hard-boiled detective as Veronica solves small mysteries while digging into some big ones. Again, like Buffy this has both strong self-contained episodes but they build into an arc with a resolution. And you can even add some social satire/commentary into the mix about the haves and the have nots. The first season was as good as television gets. The second season is good, but not as good. A lot of the individual episodes were still great, but I thought the resolution WTF. My friend didn't get me the third season, because she felt it sucked--but given there's a Veronica Mars film in the works I guess I'll have to look it up on Netflix--because I'm definitely seeing it. show less