Alex Segura’s Secret Identity: A Novel follows Carmen Valdez, an assistant at a minor comic book company in 1975 New York City. Growing up in Miami, she loved comic books and has fond memories of sharing them with her father as a little girl. She finally made it to the industry, but the company is struggling and her boss won’t entertain her pitches.

One night, her coworker comes to her asking to partner on creating a new book. It’s the opportunity Carmen has been waiting for, if not perfect, and she sketches out the major points of a character somewhat inspired by her own life. Just as their character is ready to go to print, Carmen finds her friend murdered.

She begins retracing what happened to him and where he went, learning about a seedy underbelly of third-tier comic publishers and slowly discovering people’s secrets as she begins to act more like her character. Complicating matters are ghosts from her own past catching up to her in New York and clouding her instincts.

Segura crafts a solid noir story while fully immersing the reader in the comic book market of the mid-70s, with the clash between those who wanted to elevate the art form and others who viewed it as a way to make a quick buck on something ephemeral. Elements of the story and the world Segura created with fictional publisher Triumph resemble Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, if only in his success in integrating his fictional world into actual history. The rest is pure Segura, with a solid mystery that draws the reader in until they can’t put the book down. Great for comic book fans, but welcoming to newcomers as well. ( )

My husband and sons are huge comics geeks. I am not. But somehow I came across this title and thought it would be perfect as a Christmas gift. In fact, I've apparently thought it would be perfect for my husband two Christmases in a row. As I came into the house this year, pleased as punch with my discovery, I glanced down at his bookshelves, only to see this same book already there. I hid this year's copy and asked him about it. He said he has not yet read it but was looking forward to it. Crestfallen (and now needing another gift for my husband), I decided to read it myself so I could best determine which of my sons was getting the duplicate gift. This was completely out of my wheelhouse and I didn't have the insider comics knowledge or interest that I suspect elevates this novel.

Carmen Valdez grew up in Miami, loving comics. When she moves to New York City in 1975, she takes a job with Triumph Comics, a publisher several steps below Marvel and DC. She's the publisher/owner's assistant but what she'd really like to do is to write comics. But the industry, which seems to be fading out, is not welcoming to women and their perspectives. She is frustrated but she continues to try and break into writing despite her boss's constant dismissal of her scripts. So when Harvey, a mediocre writer at Triumph, comes to her and tells her he wants her help writing a script, she agrees despite knowing she can't admit to her involvement with the book, if it even gets published. Carmen and Harvey, but mainly Carmen, create a female superhero named Claudia Calla, the Lynx. After Harvey turns the six scripts in without Carmen's name on them, he is murdered. So now Carmen needs to figure out how to reclaim her character, who turns out to be a runaway hit, who killed Harvey, and if she's now in danger too.

Segura obviously knows the comics industry and its history and he deftly weaves them into a story about much more than comics. Carmen is dealing with the misogyny of her chosen industry, the homophobia of the age, and the gritty reality of living in 1970s New York City. Her feelings about Harvey (he's a friend, he's a jerk, he's a friend, he's only a co-worker acquaintance, he's a friend, he's a double crosser, he's a friend, etc.) are completely inconsistent and change page to page depending on which feeling drives the story better. There are also several plot threads that come to great prominence and then just peter out. Illustrated pages from Lynx's comic book were sprinkled throughout the story but were distracting, not having enough connection to the plot of the story to make them valuable to the story, especially for a non-comic reader like me. I do think that my husband and the son who will be getting this pre-read copy for Christmas this year will enjoy the book more than I did. ( )

Absolutely loved this book! You don't have to be familiar with the comic business to love this book, but if you are it adds a whole other level. I fell in love with the characters in this book and they all felt very human and real to me, so much so that i audibly said "Oh no!" a few times when reading it! ( )

Sometimes it’s hard to rate a book that is completely out of your norm. I have never been a fan of Superheroes nor comic books. I was delighted to give this book an opportunity though, because of personal growth and ability to relate to many of my children who enjoy mixed media.

This wasn’t an easy read for me and it did take me a few weeks to get through. That is only because of being easily distracted by the “comic” aspects of the book.

I will say that Alex Segura’s overall writing was excellent and the overall plot was intriguing enough to make me want to continue.

I will recommend this one to all comic book fans alike and especially for my own who only want to read comics…this is a perfect way to get them to read an actual book also.

Thank you NetGalley and FlatIron Books for my gifted copy in exchange for my gifted copy. ( )

I enjoy Segura’s comics work and was looking forward to his entry into the thrillers-set-in-the-comics-industry sub-genre.

Unfortunately it didn’t really work. Set in the New York of 1975 it promised a noir-vibe but didn’t deliver. The central mystery wasn’t that mysterious and the protagonist took way to long to do anything proactive.

My main problem was that I really didn’t care about any of the characters or what happened to them, and I’m still unsure of motivations of some of the key players.

On the comics front the constant name dropping of comics industry people was distracting and threw me out of the fictional world building.

I’m not sure including sample pages from the comic that was central to the plot was a good idea. They looked like a cheap mid-90s indie comic rather than the ground-breaking art described in the text. - I think the book would have been improved by leaving more to the reader’s imagination. Maybe it works better for someone not as familiar with comics history. ( )