A promising start to a good-humored mystery series worth following.
The promising kickoff to Pawlish’s comic mystery series, starring far-from-perfect PI Reed Ferguson.
The story starts on a somewhat rough note, with the oft-parodied moment in any noir detective story when a beautiful woman walks into the office and tells a suspicious story about why she needs help—she thinks her husband’s dead and wants to find him. From the beginning, Pawlish works hard to establish the comic tone in Ferguson’s first-person voice, which, in addition to the disingenuous ingénue, Amanda Ghering, keeps the opening scene from becoming too familiar. Fortunately, Pawlish’s light touch for comedy doesn’t get in the way of the mystery. It turns out that Ferguson, a trust-fund kid trying to establish his independence, has never worked a case. He’s a big fan of noir films, though, and references them constantly. Pawlish relies on those references too much at first, but once the story gets rolling and Ferguson is fleshed out, they become a natural part of his thought process, illustrating his novice status in an entertaining way. Pawlish also earns high marks for plot construction, with twists and turns naturally unfolding as Ferguson, inexperienced but not incapable, feels his way through the case. There’s one notable exception in the climax, however, when a character suddenly appears out of the blue, though it doesn’t sink the story. Pawlish has a good eye for the smaller details, and she’s built a fantastic cast of supporting characters—including Ferguson’s goofy neighbors and especially his computer expert friend Cal—that’ll give readers something to look forward to in future installments of the series. In a nifty bit of worldbuilding, the characters, who never feel tacked on, each help reveal some aspect of Ferguson’s personality while filling out the story. Even the regular phone calls from his mother don’t interrupt the story’s flow.
A promising start to a good-humored mystery series worth following.Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2011
ISBN: 978-0982705612
Page Count: 226
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
