by T.C. Barnes ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 6, 2014
A substantial thriller and a profound story of a woman recovering from abuse: two threads that complement each other...
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In Barnes’ (And Still, She Wept, 2014, etc.) thriller, an FBI agent who has survived a harrowing experience with a serial killer finds another case in her hometown, where pageant contestants are being abducted.
FBI profiler Kayleen Archer’s last case nearly killed her. Serial murderer Richard Allan Estes, the man the feds were pursuing, left her alive but only after extensive torture and after killing herFBI partner and lover. Kayleen, on indefinite leave from the FBI and plagued by nightmares, takes refuge in Archdale, North Carolina, from which she fled 11 years ago, leaving behind her childhood friend and eventualboyfriend, Caleb Stone. Caleb, now the sheriff, wants Kayleen’s expertise with the case of 9-year-old Andie, who’d been found dead after disappearing from an illustrious 10-day beauty pageant. Kayleen quickly brings the investigation to a close, but another contestant is soon missing. This one, however, is different and seems to involve a killer who’s much more ruthlessly systematic and, to the horror of still-recovering Kayleen, reminiscent of Estes. At the same time, Kayleen suspects someone is watching her and may have been in her house, but her incessant drinking makes it impossible to know for sure. In some ways, the author’s protagonist resembles a world-weary detective; she chain-smokes and has become a full-fledged alcoholic, her breakfast often consisting of vodka and splashes of orange juice. But what makes Kayleen such an admirable character is that, however much she struggles, she endures. Her emotional scars render any reignited romance with Caleb, who still pines for her, a near impossibility, and her physical scars are brutally inescapable—she can actually feel her scars scratching her bed’s silk sheets. Barnes smartly implies that most of the torture Kayleen suffered was at the hands of Estes, though enough is relayed through dreams and flashbacks—e.g., hinting at the killer’s “tool bag of terrors”—that even the most seasoned reader might recoil. Beauty pageants aren’t portrayed in the best light: The girls’ parents don’t want the pageant shut down despite one murder and a possible second, and a girl who’s barely a teen being overtly sexualized during a performance makes Kayleen uncomfortable. The inevitable confrontation between the protagonist and the killer becomes a dramatic, suspenseful episode.
A substantial thriller and a profound story of a woman recovering from abuse: two threads that complement each other astonishingly well.Pub Date: April 6, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 470
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by T.C. Barnes
by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
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New York Times Bestseller
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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BOOK TO SCREEN
by Colleen Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 2, 2016
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
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New York Times Bestseller
IndieBound Bestseller
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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