Secrets, lies and murder take center stage in superhero noir, Secret Identity. But will heroism prevail? Alex Segura writes superhero fiction set in 1975 New York City, following Carmen Valdez, a woman in the comic book industry at Triumph Comics. All she wants is to chase her dream to write a superhero comic. Carmen is an aspiring writer but is working as the assistant to the head of Triumph. Who is someone that can’t see past her gender, or fathom to have a woman author a comic. This story is set during a time when comics were swirling the drain, both Marvel and DC were struggling to perform on top. Triumph Comics is seen as the outsider to the big two, and they need to compete to stay relevant.

Part character study, the reader follows Carmen as she tries to fulfill her dream as a comic writer. She meets Harvey, who in turns takes credit for the creation of “The Legendary Lynx” despite it being Carmen’s original idea. It’s a time where Triumph Comics needs to boost sales, and this comic more than does with their first female superhero! From here on, without giving much else away, the story within “The Legendary Lynx” in a sense, parallels Carmen’s real life, in that she embodies the hero of the story while hiding the secret of her authoring the character of the “Lynx”. Secrets begin to headline the story within Carmen’s real life as she embarks to unravel a murder of someone close to her.

Secret Identity is written in a way that keeps you reading, and wanting to know what happens next. There are so many comic industry references and knowledge of what happened during this time in comics adds that much more to the fun of this novel. Those nods blend into the story so well, it’s like you are there living Carmen’s story; it is an important story to tell. You can tell that Segura wrote this as a love letter to the comic creators and for the love of comics, in general.

I will admit, after seeing this book on library and bookstore shelves, what finally got me to read it was the news that Alex Segura will be a guest at The Uncanny Experience on July 12-13th at the Minneapolis Club in Minneapolis, MN. An event that should not be missed!