Review of Catching a Bird

[Abby West]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Catching a Bird" by Bonz Buonopane.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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To Catch A Bird by Bonz Buonopane is a hilariously satirical and gloomy book where Bonz, a retired mob boss, is hired by the McKinleys, a grieving couple who are trying to find out what happened to their deceased daughter. In this comical and edgy novel, Bonz is accompanied by his assistant, Daniel, and a preppy, pre-graduate law student named Kat to help him solve the case. While these three dig for clues, they come up with an alarming suspicion of who could have possibly killed their daughter—the Worcester County Killer. Or so they originally thought.




But as Bonz, Daniel, and Kat continue looking for clues with the help of Mr. McKinley, the story takes a shocking and dark twist as secrets surrounding her and her family start to be revealed. The killer doesn’t turn out to be the Worcester County Killer but a more personal connection. As Bonz figures out who the real killer is, the killer makes a failed attempt to go after Bonz before the story ends on a good note. Sort of.




This novel definitely hooks you into the story and provides a relatable and laid-back story that’s relatively easy to follow. It's funny and pokes fun at investigative detective work. I wasn’t expecting the twist at the end of the book, nor were there any hints or clues pointing to who the actual killer was. The comical nature of it all distracted me and caught me off guard when it was revealed. Bonz had a good tactic for making this novel, and it worked for me. That being said, this book also did have a lot of vulgar language and explicit themes. I think that the vulgar language added to the laid-back atmosphere and played into Bonz’s character, but I also think the use of vulgar language was rather excessive, and the use of explicit themes didn’t really add anything to the story, especially since it was so prevalent within the book. Additionally, I did notice a few errors within the book that stood out. Because of this, I am going to have to give this three out of five stars. I think it would’ve been better if the vulgar language and explicit themes were dialed down a little bit, although maybe that was just the personal style of the book.

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Catching a Bird
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