Boasts exotic locales and tantalizing hints of an intriguing technological future, but the effect is diminished by a weak,...
In Warwick’s futuristic debut thriller, a trader encounters a labyrinthine criminal underworld during his search for his missing lover.
Charlie, an American, is a successful trader in Saigon with a lavish lifestyle and a beautiful co-worker and girlfriend named Lauren. When he’s not plotting major moves on the stock market, he and Lauren enjoy the latest in augmented reality—technology used mostly in advertising, featuring “dinosaurs that pranced out onto the sidewalk from sports bars” and “city skylines that changed from Makati to Beijing to Mexico City and crumbled as people walked through them.” But Charlie’s high-stakes, high-rewards lifestyle comes crashing down around him when he’s arrested during a police raid of his office. Imprisoned in a foreign country and faced with the loss of his career, fortune and lover, Charlie shifts his sole purpose to finding Lauren and re-establishing their relationship. Accompanied by an augmented-reality version of Lauren, Charlie travels to several countries, including Vietnam and Bahrain, and becomes involved in the equally high-stakes world of smuggling. Along the way, he crosses paths with Harold, Cameron and Saleh, whose activities lead Charlie on a dangerous, destructive path. Warwick’s narrative is fast-paced and full of energy and ideas; however, the main story is overshadowed by several promising subplots left undeveloped. For example, Harold and Lauren are concerned about HIV, but this topic is addressed fleetingly, without much explanation of how their concerns affect their lifestyles and relationships. The novel includes a fairly large cast of characters whose lives and fates are frequently intertwined. Occasionally, this works in the novel’s favor, but most of the relationships lack a back story that explains why and how the characters are connected. One of the novel’s best aspects is Charlie’s relationship with Lauren as well as his attempts to re-create that relationship through an augmented-reality version of Lauren. The passages in which Charlie decides on her attributes and mannerisms are particularly poignant. Real Lauren’s relationships with other characters aren’t as clearly defined, though. She begins as a trader along with Charlie but spends most of the novel in the company of a prostitute named Stephanie.
Boasts exotic locales and tantalizing hints of an intriguing technological future, but the effect is diminished by a weak, meandering narrative.Pub Date: July 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0615820613
Page Count: 210
Publisher: The Artificial Mirage
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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