by Chuck Barrett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 2016
An adrenalized, technology-laden actioner.
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Covert operative Jake Pendleton returns to stop a possibly devastating cyberwarfare alliance between North Korea and Iran in Barrett’s (Blown, 2015, etc.) latest series thriller.
Jake’s latest assignment as emissary for Virginia espionage firm Commonwealth Consultants sends him to Italy. He and his partner, Italian intelligence agent Francesca Catanzaro, are searching for a hacker nicknamed “The Jew,” who’d tried to warn two American executives of their company’s cybersecurity breaches. The Defense Department was a major client of both companies, and when the aforementioned executives turn up dead, government officials believe that Iranian hacking team Tarh Andishan may be responsible. A series of cybercrimes in the United States further indicates that Iran has aligned itself with North Korea. A major cyberattack called “Disruption” appears to be underway, involving the hacking of various countries’ banking systems. The scheme may involve Boris, a cyberterrorist whom Jake once failed to capture in Washington, D.C., and may also be connected to the disappearance of a Malaysian jetliner more than two years ago. Jake, meanwhile, is worried about Francesca, who seems distracted by her former partner and lover, Marco Serreti, the deputy director of Italy’s intelligence agency. Despite this, Jake and Francesca rush to locate “The Jew” before Disruption begins. This high-speed thriller moves quickly through different parts of the world and through the stories of its myriad characters. It’s all very straightforward but maintains a high level of intensity. Barrett wisely keeps the plot simple and the technical jargon at a minimum, defining terminology in the context of the narrative without interrupting the flow. Barrett adds other twists to preserve the momentum, such as when Jake’s love interest, Kyli, gets caught in a lab explosion. Although Jake and Francesca get involved in multiple chases and occasional brawls, their involvement with the actual cyberthreat is often superficial. Early on, Jake admits, “I don’t know much about hacking,” and he needs others to explain concepts, such as a digital signature. This does, however, give a relatively minor character, Commonwealth Consultants analyst George Fontaine, a chance to shine.
An adrenalized, technology-laden actioner.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 9780988506183
Page Count: 404
Publisher: Switchback Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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