A traditionally plotted but craftily executed legal thriller.
An investigative drama about murder, police, attorneys and suspicion in rural Kentucky.
In a chilling opener that ranks among the better introductory set pieces of today’s blockbuster thrillers—courtroom and otherwise—the novel sets the mood of local tragedy without a useless word. Two young boys have been missing for a couple hours and their respective families go looking—but to no avail (unfortunately, a cantankerous drunk led the search). After calling the police, a full search is issued and the boys are found, presumably having been mutilated by the dogs that stalk the Kentucky riverbank. It’s a horrific tragedy that shakes up the entire region and is chillingly rendered by Metry. Sherriff Paul Tellis, however, isn’t willing to call it a day and begins looking for human suspects—the last thing the town or the power structure that runs the county wanted to hear. Under the direction of a classically wicked prosecutor, innuendo and suspicion of outliers leads them to the young teenage outcast Joseph Khalil, an immigrant’s son who is brilliant with computers. The young man spends much of his time online in a vicious fantasy world, taking the handle of an infamous Muslim warrior. Despite Joseph’s intelligence, his time online alienates him from common human interactions and their consequences. And despite the brilliance of his two crack lawyers, Joseph mounts his own defense, using his abilities to craft a jury of his peers, drawn from a virtual generation. Given the complex range of events and the density of the plot, readers might expect flat, eye-glazing prose, but the pacing remains quick and punchy as it transitions from courtroom to character and is generously rendered in elegant writing unusual for the genre—especially given the grim events. Yes, it hits all the typical beats, but Metry handles them so deftly that even the—in retrospect—telegraphed revelation will surprise and satisfy those who love thrillers, as this book delivers classic elements of the genre.
A traditionally plotted but craftily executed legal thriller.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-0984699704
Page Count: 233
Publisher: White Schoolhouse
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2011
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
© Copyright 2026 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.
