Sure to appease readers interested in romance, but Harber supports it with a solid thriller foundation.
A hacker stuck in a destructive relationship fends off terrorists all while being wooed by a handsome fellow hacker in Harber’s (Hart Attack, 2014) romantic thriller.
Lexi Dare prefers anonymity; her business adviser, Shadow, is the only person who knows she’s celebrated hacker SilverChaos. Her latest code, Monarch, is likely to ignite a bidding war in its upcoming auction. Lexi’s personal life, however, is a struggle; she can’t find the strength to leave her abusive fiance, Matt. When Matt’s pal Parker Black, of a private security force called Titan, witnesses Matt assaulting Lexi, he intervenes. But Matt is only one of Lexi’s troubles. Shadow’s already enlisted Parker, who, unbeknownst to Lexi is hacker BlackDawn, to provide security for the Monarch deal. And sure enough, a terrorist faction wants simply to steal Monarch, targeting its creator as well, while Parker and Lexi struggle to ensure her safety. The novel, despite the presence of hackers and terrorist baddies, is first and foremost a romance. Once Parker rescues Lexi, for example, their flourishing romance sidelines everything else as it leads to the (inevitable) sex scenes. This part of the story takes up so many of the pages that it’s a little too easy for readers to forget about the people looking to harm Lexi. Suspense, accordingly, dips. Nevertheless, the couple’s moments together provide many erotic highlights. The Arab terrorists, meanwhile, aren’t much of a threat until near the end, when their plot is finally hatched with devastating consequences. It’s Matt who proves the most terrifying of the villains. His abuse of Lexi, for instance, isn’t just physical. He manipulates her, making her believe that it’s her fault when he hits or berates her, a frighteningly realistic portrayal of the dynamics of abuse that elicits a stronger emotional response than the largely nameless terrorists. Harber fully embraces a few of the genre’s trademarks, including endless references to blue eyes: Parker’s are “smoldering,” Lexi’s “icy.” But this hardly lessens the couple’s overall chic, two intelligent characters with invigorating tech skills and their own superbikes.
Sure to appease readers interested in romance, but Harber supports it with a solid thriller foundation.Pub Date: July 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-942236-17-7
Page Count: 286
Publisher: Mill Creek Press
Review Posted Online: July 7, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
