A lightweight but fast-paced medical thriller that delivers engaging suspense.
In Hull’s (The Sun God is a Ham, 2013, etc.) novel, an unemployed writer’s plan to make easy money turns into an unexpectedly deadly pursuit.
Soon after leaving his job waiting tables at a high-end New Haven, Connecticut, restaurant, 28-year-old Jack Bodwell finds that his money troubles distract him from writing fiction, his labor of love. So he hastily decides to participate in a lucrative clinical trial at a mysterious brain-research facility nestled in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts. The trial, run by venerable neurosurgeon Henri Simmons, involves subjecting volunteers to “brainwave therapy”—a procedure that aims to cure Alzheimer’s disease. Upon arriving in quaint Oak Glenn Falls, where the trial facility is located, Jack meets the acting sheriff, Wanda, who expresses concern about the fact that she has yet to see a single volunteer discharged from the program. Jack immediately senses that something’s off, but the of his new surroundings initially distracts him; the facility’s grounds feature rambling flower gardens, and all nurses are formidably attractive. One nurse, Claire Montieri, particularly intrigues him, and the two quickly develop a flirtatious rapport. As his stay progresses, he starts to confide in Claire about his suspicions regarding the doctor’s true intentions—which may involve lethal malpractice. From this point on, the novel picks up speed as Jack, Claire, and other enlightened characters rush to escape the facility and expose the truth. Up to the end, Hull skillfully moves the tense, multipronged plot along at a brisk pace, making for a gratifyingly lively read. That said, the characters lack depth, and emotional tenor of many of their interactions tends toward the melodramatic. However, the author displays what appears to be an appreciable knowledge of complex medical procedures. He also shows expertise in classical music, in which Simmons has a keen interest; Hull has past experience as a professional musician and bandleader.
A lightweight but fast-paced medical thriller that delivers engaging suspense.Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-970153-05-7
Page Count: 294
Publisher: LaMaison Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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