A nicely put-together thriller from the talented Gould (Medusa's Gift, 1991, etc.), who can play all the pieces like another Bobby Fischer—but can't check to save her soul. The winding backcountry roads of Ireland, with their antiquated markers, hairpin turns, and narrow shoulders, are better suited for sightseeing than racing. This makes them the ideal setting for a rally, of course, since it ensures the international publicity that all the backers crave. And since the finish line is across the border that separates Northern Ireland from the Republic, it serves as a good photo-op for politicians who want to identify themselves with Peace and Harmony. There are a few problems, however. For one, Princess Victoria Anne, the blackest sheep of the Royal Family's tawny flock, has entered the race incognito. Also, bombs start going off along the course, and a high-society wedding is being held the day after the rally at Kyteler Manor, the estate of an Irish arms smuggler—while the Anglo-Irish Summit talks just happen to be under way a few miles down the road. It would be a good occasion for mischief if one were of a mind, and, this being Ireland, the occasion is not likely to be missed. One of the drivers, an American chap named Ludo, seems mischievous indeed. Something of a celebrity on the racing circuit, he is having an affair with his co-driver, the mother of his best friend Sam. Sam, meanwhile, is being held hostage by some nasty characters in New York. And all three of them have been invited to the wedding at Kyteler Manor, since the bridegroom was a roommate of Ludo and Sam's at Yale. There's a good deal more at stake than who will catch the garter: a terrorist plot, for instance, to devastate New York, London, and Washington, using smuggled plutonium. Will help arrive in time? Marvelously plotted for most of its length, with vivid, frightening characters, splendid dialogue, and excruciating suspense. But the story, alas, crashes and burns in a rushed, clumsy, unconvincing climax.
Pub Date: March 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8050-4117-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1997
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
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