Preying on the fears of Americans, militant Islamic factions plot the downfall and overthrow of America from within.
In Bergsgaard’s thriller, U.S. mercenaries kidnap a Taliban informant believed to have information vital to national security. Alex Stone, hired by multinational company Blackstone, delivers the kidnapped man, Ali Shah Masood—a member of the Islamic Council—to CIA agents in Afghanistan. Ali has information about plans the Islamic Council has to unleash the biblical plagues of Egypt (acts of terrorism on the U.S.) to force all U.S. troops to withdraw from the Middle East, then Israel can be destroyed with no U.S. interference. In seemingly unrelated incidents, four border patrolmen in Texas are murdered, red algae overtakes the Potomac River and flies and frogs engulf Arlington National Cemetery while railroad bridges are blown up and forest fires rage. Doc Martini, special agent with the Anti-Terrorism Force, is called on to investigate. With the help of Agent Susan Rivard, Martini finds connections among the events and unravels the secret plans of the Islamic Council before U.S. citizens panic and Israel is destroyed. The author uses his experience and knowledge as a special agent to create a storyline that feels fresh, honest and diabolical. Regulations and procedures stymie federal agents while perpetrators of crime slip through U.S. society seemingly unhindered. Written in a tight, matter-of-fact tone, the story unfolds at a deliberate pace that keeps the reader engaged and in anticipation of the continued action. Events unfold on a day-by-day basis over a period of about two months. Some days have as many as six different entries in a dizzying array of locations including Pakistan, Spain, France, Italy and the White House, with multiple locations listed for Afghanistan and Minnesota. This approach leaves the reader feeling unsettled and confused at times, as well as looking at past chapters to reconnect plot lines. In places, the storyline depends too much on the surface tension of Islamic countries wanting the destruction of Israel, and could stand some bolstering with more in-depth character development of several of the Islamic Council members. A fast-paced, informed action/adventure story that holds the reader’s attention from cover to cover.
Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-1457505171
Page Count: 380
Publisher: Dog Ear
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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