by Gerry O'Sullivan ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 31, 2013
A historical novel with an overly complex plot, mostly redeemed by its brisk pace.
A crime drama that jumps back and forth between China and Ireland during the turbulent first third of the 20th century.
Mikie Gallagher grew up in Ireland at a time when nationalist sentiments ran high. His father was a hard-nosed cop who was committed to the independence of Ireland from British rule, but equally observant of the rule of law, and as a result, deeply critical of violence as a means to end the occupation. As a young child, Mikie meets Fiona, the beautiful, young daughter of Lord Burleigh, and immediately falls in love with her. Irish nationalists burn her castle to the ground, killing Lord Burleigh and Mikie’s father. Fiona’s body is never recovered and she’s presumed dead. Partly out of anguish and partly because Fiona often spoke of her dream to visit Shanghai, Mikie travels to that city to join an elite constabulary force. There he encounters a general antipathy toward his presence and a vast and dangerous world of underground crime. He also struggles to understand a nation that’s culturally separate from his, but that’s also experienced the humiliation of occupation. Overall, the action in this novel is fast and crisp throughout, and debut author O’Sullivan has a powerful grasp of both Irish and Chinese culture. For example, at one point, Mikie’s Chinese counterpart marvels, “We find your demeanour towards life to be inexplicable. The West can rise heroically to a war or a natural disaster but show an unbearable temper when meeting small discomfort.” There are so many twists and turns and distracting, gratuitous subplots that it’s easy for readers to miss the narrative forest for the trees. Still, this mystery thriller manages to provide more than enough well-rendered excitement to sustain readers’ attention.
A historical novel with an overly complex plot, mostly redeemed by its brisk pace.Pub Date: July 31, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-9874517-2-9
Page Count: 318
Publisher: Rosetta No. 3 A/C Pty Ltd
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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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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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