The Spectacular

The Spectacular (2023) is a thriller and a work of historical fiction by American bestselling author Fiona Davis. The novel follows an aspiring professional dancer named Marion as she defies her father’s wishes and builds a career as a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall in 1950s New York City. While struggling to make sense of a post-war world, the main characters investigate and take heroic action to catch a serial bomber. Praised as a bestseller by USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly, The Spectacular was also selected for the June 2023 Library Reads Hall of Fame.

This guide refers to the 2023 eBook edition published by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Content Warning: This guide describes and discusses the novel’s treatment of mental health conditions, forced institutionalization, and terrorism. The novel occasionally uses antiquated, offensive terms to describe individuals with mental health conditions, representing the stigma surrounding mental illness during the period in which the novel is set; this guide replicates such terms in direct quotations only.

Plot Summary

Marion Brooks, the novel’s protagonist and partial narrator, lives to dance. During the autumn of 1956, she pursues a performing arts career with Radio City Music Hall’s famous Rockettes. In doing so, Marion upsets her father, Simon, and her boyfriend, Nathaniel, who encourage Marion to settle into the traditional role of wife and mother that was typical of 1950s American nuclear families. Wanting his daughters to be safe and provided for, Simon believes that the only acceptable life plans for women should be limited to the roles of wife, teacher, nurse, or secretary. Due to his misogynistic attitude, his relationship with Marion quickly deteriorates. Unwilling to allow her father to manipulate her, Marion leaves the Bronxville family home and moves to a boarding house in Manhattan, where she establishes her career as a professional dancer.

Although Marion and her sister, Judy, struggle to relate to each other, they understand and empathize with their mutually complicated emotions surrounding the death of their mother, Lucille, and their subsequent upbringing with a single father. When the sisters discover their mother’s possessions from acting school, they share memories of Lucille and grow curious about her motivations. In addition to building a stronger bond with her sister, Marion builds supportive friendships with the Rockettes and other female performers. The women encourage each other, celebrating their achievements and aiding each other when problems arise. Marion develops a particularly close bond with Bunny, a veteran Rockette who helps Marion to settle into the rhythm of New York life.

As Marion’s conflict with Simon builds, a serial bomber terrorizes New York City, continuing a 16-year streak of randomly planting bombs in densely populated areas. The terrorist, known as the Big Apple Bomber, often leaves letters expressing his hatred for Met Power, the company for which Simon and Judy work. One evening, the Big Apple Bomber strikes Radio City during a Rockette Christmas Spectacular performance. Because Judy is near the bomb site, she dies from injuries sustained during the blast. Marion witnesses her sister’s death from the vantage point of the stage.

Marion feels responsible for Judy’s death, and her guilt worsens when Simon also holds her accountable for Judy’s presence in Radio City. However, Marion cannot force herself to quit dancing. She returns to Manhattan to continue her work as a Rockette, which further enrages Simon. While there, she resolves to investigate the Big Apple Bomber herself. To this end, she seeks the help of Dr. Peter Griggs, an acquaintance she met while on a double date with Bunny and Bunny’s beau, Dale. Because Peter works as a psychiatrist, he possesses an uncanny ability to read and understand people. Marion encourages Peter to work with the NYPD to create a profile for the Big Apple Bomber, but this investigative technique is new to the doubtful, contemptuous police officers. Working together, Marion and Peter begin to fall in love.

Knowing that Marion saw his face during the performance, the Big Apple Bomber attacks her at Radio City. Marion narrowly escapes but ultimately decides to end her career as a Rockette, not wanting to put others at risk. Marion also makes this decision after overhearing Russell, one of the show’s producers, complain that Marion stands out too much from the other dancers. While everyone agrees that Marion’s dancing is stunning, she distracts attention from the group, ruining the illusion of unison that the Rockettes strive to create. Marion returns to Simon’s home, and due to her recent awareness that the Big Apple Bomber likely worked for Met Power, she now grows suspicious that Simon is hiding crucial information from Met Power’s personnel files that might reveal the bomber’s identity. Marion remembers Judy previously discussing “dead” personnel files with Simon. Peter and Marion break into Simon’s office and locate the missing file that reveals the Big Apple Bomber’s identity. George Martinek suffered terrible injuries while working for Met Power, leaving him unable to work. The company blocked his efforts to receive workman’s compensation, and Martinek has lived with intensifying anger for the company ever since.

When the police dismiss Marion and Peter’s tactics, the couple singlehandedly stops Martinek from planting another bomb in Radio City. Because Simon never came forward in a timely fashion to offer police the information from the personnel files, he knows that he would be punished for such negligence, and he therefore kept the dead files hidden to safeguard his public reputation as a responsible citizen. When the truth of the bomber’s identity is revealed, Met Power fires Simon, who then has no way to support himself after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Marion casts aside her strong resentment for Simon for hiding Martinek’s file, along with his other manipulative tactics and transgressions, and she returns to Simon’s house to care for him as his Parkinson’s symptoms worsen. In doing so, Marion forfeits her dream of living independently in a Manhattan apartment and instead works as an assistant choreographer. This new role develops into a lucrative, successful, and sustaining career. However, Peter leaves Marion to work for the FBI in Virginia, effectively breaking her heart.

The narrative structure occasionally alternates between the third-person narration of the primary timeline of 1956 and Marion’s first-person narration of a 1992 alumni reunion for the Rockettes. In the later timeline, Marion enjoys being escorted to Radio City by Piper Grace Cole, a young administrative assistant for the Rockettes whom Marion encourages to pursue professional dancing. A tribute to those affected by the Big Apple Bomber occurs during the reunion performance, and Marion is called onto the stage to receive recognition for her heroic efforts. Unbeknownst to Marion, Peter has also chosen to attend the event and accepts recognition alongside her. Reunited after decades apart, Marion and Peter decide to give their love a second chance.