Next book

Tommy Twiceborn

AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY INTO PAST LIFE INSPIRED BY A TRUE-LIFE STORY OF REINCARNATION.

In Saeed’s debut thriller, a young boy believes that he’s the reincarnation of a murdered child.
Eleven-year-old Tommy Stevenson and his prankster friends (known collectively as “the Furtive Four”) decide that, for their latest prank, one of them will pretend to be the reincarnation of Sean Butler, a name they found on a headstone. Tommy is chosen at random to play Sean, and the three become obsessed with researching the boy’s death; it turns out that he drowned 12 years ago, along with his parents. Tommy tells everyone that he’s Sean as part of the prank but then begins to genuinely believe the claim. He even develops a fear of water and sees images of men arguing near the lake where the family died. Soon Tommy is convinced that Sean and his parents were killed, and newspaper reporter Derek Spalding helps verify this by getting police to exhume the bodies. The murders are linked to a jewelry heist, and it seems that a dangerous person believes that Tommy knows where to find the unrecovered jewels. The novel starts as a coming-of-age drama focusing on a boy and his efforts to deal with the notion of life after death. However, Saeed skillfully shifts the plot into a murder mystery, zeroing in on Spalding as he tracks down info on the Scorpio Gang, who may be responsible for the robbery and murders. He and Tommy share the spotlight, resulting in a fascinating combination: a sympathetic tween whose friends ditch him when they think he’s taken a joke too far, and a less-appealing drunk who condescends to his new partner, Moira. The novel sometimes feels like a young-adult story, particularly when it includes specific details on how Tommy makes a periscope out of empty milk cartons. That said, it’s sure to keep adult mystery fans’ attention.
An often delightful murder mystery that treats the concept of reincarnation with respect and sincerity.

Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012

ISBN: 978-0985186104

Page Count: 214

Publisher: Nightowlscribe

Review Posted Online: July 24, 2014

Categories:
Next book

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

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

Categories:
Next book

MAGIC HOUR

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

Categories:
Close Quickview