The Secrets of the Greaser Hotel
J. Scott Fuqua
Bancroft Press, Aug 15 2014, $25.00
ISBN: 9781610881302
At one time Baltimore’s Greaser Hotel was considered one of the
most luxurious places for a city visitor to stay. Now surrounded by downtown urban blight, the
Greaser Hotel is a rundown dump with few occupants; though those residing there
recognize this is a special place where magic thrives and the secrets kept
sacred.
When Allie “the Rat” Argos was six, her parents went to prison for
twenty years after a failed kidnapping of a Gristle. Greaser Hotel caretaker Mrs. Friendly became
her foster parent bringing the child to the Greasy Blight where for the next
nine years she slaved alongside other inmates (former homemaking diva Midge
Darlington, elderly ex billionaire Arnold Armstrong, and tweener Rena Duchamp). Jerome the cat worries about naive Allie
after she suffers an apparent concussion, and no supper. Marvin Greaser III and Herman Gristle come
to stay at the hotel. Gristle inspects
the teenage Rat to insure she poses no threat to him in the near future; but
his arrival opens up the past to her.
The Secrets of the Greaser Hotel is a gripping modern day gothic
fantasy enhanced by powerful B&W illustrations. The good vs. bad contemporary Dickensian satirical
storyline looks deeply at the negative impact of the under-regulated free
market on the exploited with no protection; as young adult readers (and us
seniors) want the heroine and her friends to kick the ugly butts of the mean
crew. No one sees Baltimore quite the
same way as J. Scott Fuqua
does (see Calvert the Raven in
the Battle of Baltimore).
Harriet Klausner
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