In Stockmar’s latest thriller-romance (Merlin’s Triumph, 2012, etc.), Beau Donahue tries to play matchmaker for her songwriter friend, Melly, who may be targeted for murder.
When best-selling “authoress” Beau invites Melly Foulard on a horse-riding charity event in Colorado, Melly, the Oscar-winning composer, thinks it’s the perfect place to duck the paparazzi. Reporters are hounding Melly not for her work in movies, but because she’s engaged to Hollywood star Dom Michelson. Dom and Melly don’t have much in common, and fortunately, Beau has a replacement guy lined up: Scott McKay, a veterinarian. Melly, however, has other things on her mind, suspecting foul play in the supposed accidental death of her friend Tommy. The man responsible for Tommy’s murder, Joe Vitro, is unsure if Melly knows of his involvement, but just to be safe, he puts a hit out on her. The novel tends to favor romance over thrills. There are notable aspects befitting a thriller: Beau and Melly look so similar that they’re repeatedly mistaken for one another (which doesn’t bode well for Beau, since someone’s gunning for her look-alike), but it’s the blossoming romance between Scott and Melly that fills most of the pages. The novel entertains as a romance, detailing the lives of would-be lovers. This tack, however, diminishes the suspense. Antagonist Hamil Jamoul makes few appearances, and Beau is relegated to a supporting role. Stockmar establishes scenes well with vivid imagery, but the novel overdescribes certain character traits, like Dom’s egotism and Melly’s thin frame, resulting in an excess of anorexia jokes. There are great characters, like Joe, who requests so many “Trips” (Hamil’s term for hits) that it’s amusing, and Scott’s stepdaughter, Megan, who’s just as invested in pairing her father and Melly as Beau. But no one outshines Beau, confident enough to always carry a snub-nosed revolver and sign autographs for people who think she’s Melly.
Thriller fans should anticipate a considerable amount of canoodling, but most will find the protagonist appealing.
Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463705251
Page Count: 494
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2014
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
