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THE BUTCHER

Name: THE BUTCHER
Author: Alan S. Kessler
ISBN: 978-1-68433-220-5

by Alan S. Kessler ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 24, 2019

An intriguing but uneven tale with heavy-handed references to Nazism and the Holocaust.

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In this fantasy novel, Kessler (Gables Court, 2018) tells a story of an unpleasant world that’s only getting worse.

Mikkel lives a privileged life as the son of Deputy to the Secretary of the Party Otto. However, his dark complexion and aversion to killing pigs make him more like a despised group called Burners than the tall, blond members of the “master race,” led by a man called the Butcher. Mikkel has visions of creating a new civilization that doesn’t depend on pig slaughter or the subjugation of sun-worshipping Burners and other non-elites. At the same time, he also tries to fit into the existing system, rejecting lower-ranked friends and embracing, for a time, the cruelty of Ludolf, leader of the brutal Scouts. As Mikkel begins to break with the Butcher’s ways, flashback chapters reveal more of his backstory and how the persecution of the Burners began. Eventually, Otto and Mikkel decide that a plan to kill all Burners is a step too far, and Mikkel finds his place as a leader. This story can be confusing at times, and the similarity of Ludolf’s and Rudolf’s names doesn’t help matters. Familiar fantasy tropes abound, from an overabundance of capitalized nouns to Mikkel’s role as a chosen one. The Butcher is also given to highly dramatic pronouncements: “Burner death through Party innovation gives the faithful a glimpse of the purged world to come.” However, Kessler’s prose is generally strong, with occasional moments of dry humor amid the bleakness of the narrative. The heavy violence will not appeal to all readers, but some will find this book as a whole to be an enjoyable, multilayered fantasy. Its allusions are rarely subtle, though; Burners are trapped in a stockade and have numbers written on their arms, the Butcher calls them “diseased creatures more animal than human,” and the Secretary of the Party suggests disposing of them in “a large oven.”

An intriguing but uneven tale with heavy-handed references to Nazism and the Holocaust.

Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-68433-220-5

Page Count: 206

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2019

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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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.