Manhattan Beach

When I first started reading Manhattan Beach, it took me back to my obsession with historical fiction when I was in middle school. But, throughout the story there were all these nagging details that kept me from being completely swept away into a different world. Instead of looking up at the end and wondering how Egan had crafted the story in the way she did (like I did when I finished Goon Squad), there were a few things that I found annoying: Egan uses the word “skein” four times throughout the book, I didn't care for the father's side story at all, and many descriptions felt clunky and over the top. Egan is still Egan, the prose is mostly very good, the story is pretty tight. I was just hoping for another five-star book.