A fine, technically adept mystery.
In Kay’s (Blood Runs Cold, 2017) mystery, the death of an assistant principal leads to an investigation of a murder-suicide and the unraveling of a 15-year-old conspiracy.
When 10-year-old Bobby Walker, his older brother Tommy, and cousin George discover the dead body of Manny Grimes, Columbia County Elementary School’s assistant principal, they do what most kids would: they report it to the local police in Augusta, Georgia. Enter Lt. Jim DeLong, a recovering alcoholic and current workaholic, who’s still struggling with the aftermath of his wife’s miscarriage and the strain it’s put on their marriage. Unfortunately for him, Grimes’ body isn’t where the kids said it would be—in fact, it’s disappeared. Then, when DeLong searches the man’s house, an unknown assailant nearly kills him. The cop calls in his former mentor and close friend, Russ Calhoun, a retired investigator for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, who has keen detective skills. But DeLong and Calhoun’s investigation is soon derailed by the circumstances surrounding another case—a recent murder-suicide—as well as the revelation of secrets that threaten to destroy DeLong’s sobriety and his lifelong friendship with Calhoun. Everyone, it seems, is a suspect—at one point, Calhoun correctly opines that “the Walkers are one big, messed up family”—but DeLong’s rapidly deteriorating mental health may prove to be the key to unlocking the mystery. This novel has some minor flaws—DeLong’s alcoholism never quite feels authentic, and seems more like a narrative crutch; some clues are revealed through apparently paranormal or coincidental means, rather than solid detective work; and the murderer’s identity is teased unnecessarily toward the end of the story. However, Kay ably distinguishes the many characters and handles them with aplomb, and the many seemingly disparate plot strands come together in a satisfying, cohesive fashion. Although it’s disappointing that some of the more intriguing characters have little chance of making it to future books of a potential series, Kay clearly has the literary chops to replace them with new creations that are just as engaging.
A fine, technically adept mystery.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9972920-3-9
Page Count: 279
Publisher: Thomas Max Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 20, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 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.
bookshelf
