A crafty, lightweight mystery anchored by a fearless female sleuth and lively supporting characters.
An economic collapse drives a hedge fund manager to murderous desperation while a police detective races to break the case before the body count rises in this intricately plotted mystery thriller.
When the titular envelope containing a sheet of paper with a bloody handprint and the word “JOSH” scribbled on it arrives in the mail, veteran psychologist Tonya Proctor and her husband Josh, a biomedical engineer, panic. Enter tough, seasoned Memphis police lieutenant Julia Todd, who, together with precinct secretary Teresa Johnson, swiftly pieces together the case. The investigation soon reveals that other medical scientists have received the same chartreuse calling card—before perishing in suspicious “accidents.” Todd’s investigation of a missing scientist pits her against Frederick Durnst, the CEO of BP Tech, who is less than forthcoming with company information. Todd sifts through a variety of leads as more local scientists go missing, Josh receives anonymous warnings and envelopes continue popping up around town. Fingerprints on Josh’s mysterious envelope match those of Carl Huong, a senior scientist at a company developing advanced (and controversial) joint replacement equipment, but Huong ends up murdered. Did he have compromising knowledge or was he just in the killer’s way? Complementing the narrative is a subplot involving Charleze Washington, a former foster child turned obsessive, aggressive financial hedge fund manager who finds herself knee-deep in an insider trading scam. The conventional sleuthing is engaging (though Paavola’s steady introduction of new characters becomes a bit distracting), with dangerous, illegal stock activity; cryptic e-mails; troublemakers; hit men and Josh, whose life remains in danger as everyone around him tries to piece together the clues. Paavola, a practicing Tennessee psychologist, keeps the action coming and his characters consistently interesting, though the conclusion isn’t nearly as satisfying as the search for clues.
A crafty, lightweight mystery anchored by a fearless female sleuth and lively supporting characters.Pub Date: June 11, 2010
ISBN: 978-0579057902
Page Count: 304
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
