A powerful tale of revenge and perseverance in the face of danger.
In Dossett’s historical novel, a teenage girl in the Prohibition era vows to avenge the murder of her brother by tequila smugglers.
Sarita Gibson lives on the family ranch, La Barroneña, with her ailing father John and her younger brother JJ. She’s somewhat adrift after her mother’s death, unable to graduate school in San Antonio as she had planned and barred from fully devoting herself to working on the ranch by her father, who doubts her capability on the basis of her sex. One day, a catastrophe forever changes her life: When two tequila smugglers rob Sarita and JJ of four of their horses, JJ is shot and dies in his sister’s arms. John turns to the local sheriff and the Texas Rangers for justice, but both entities are too preoccupied to be of any meaningful assistance, a predicament that only exacerbates John’s “frail heart.” To exact vengeance on JJ’s behalf and prove to her father that she can take over the ranch (John is poised to sell the spread to Burr Archer and his “greedy white teeth”), Sarita sets off in search of the killer, Javier Salsito de Ortega, a ruthless bandit and smuggler. Her resolve is stirringly captured by the author: “JJ had not been peaceful in death. His face had brimmed with confusion and fear. He’d had no chance; his life had been taken, running out of him like sand through a funnel. He had died trying to save me. I couldn’t give up so easily.” The plot is aggressively paced, packed with vividly rendered action, but this is more than just a tale of adventure and revenge; Dossett astutely captures the near lawlessness along the border at that time, a circumstance only worsened by the prohibition against alcohol. Sarita is a deftly drawn character encompassing complexity, toughness, and vulnerability. This novel will please readers in search of a thrilling plot that is thoughtfully executed.
A powerful tale of revenge and perseverance in the face of danger.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9798891323131
Page Count: 366
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A fresh, funny, ambitious, and nuanced take on some of our oldest existential questions. Cannot wait for the TV series.
What would you do if you knew when you were going to die?
In the first page and a half of her latest page-turner, bestselling Australian author Moriarty introduces a large cast of fascinating characters, all seated on a flight to Sydney that’s delayed on the tarmac. There’s the “bespectacled hipster” with his arm in a cast; a very pregnant woman; a young mom with a screaming infant and a sweaty toddler; a bride and groom, still in their wedding clothes; a surly 6-year-old forced to miss a laser-tag party; a darling elderly couple; a chatty tourist pair; several others. No one even notices the woman who will later become a household name as the “Death Lady” until she hops up from her seat and begins to deliver predictions to each of them about the age they’ll be when they die and the cause of their deaths. Age 30, assault, for the hipster. Age 7, drowning, for the baby in arms. Age 43, workplace accident, for a 42-year-old civil engineer. Self-harm, age 28, for the lovely flight attendant, who is that day celebrating her 28th birthday. Over the next 126 chapters (some just a paragraph), you will get to know all these people, and their reactions to the news of their demise, very well. Best of all, you will get to know Cherry Lockwood, the Death Lady, and the life that brought her to this day. Is it true, as she repeatedly intones on the plane, that “fate won’t be fought”? Does this novel support the idea that clairvoyance is real? Does it find a means to logically dismiss the whole thing? Or is it some complex amalgam of these possibilities? Sorry, you won’t find that out here, and in fact not until you’ve turned all 500-plus pages. The story is a brilliant, charming, and invigorating illustration of its closing quote from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (we’re not going to spill that either).
A fresh, funny, ambitious, and nuanced take on some of our oldest existential questions. Cannot wait for the TV series.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593798607
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
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