An occasionally implausible romantic spy thriller that delves into the complexity and power of grief.
In Wolf’s debut novel, an Israeli woman tries to forget her past as she pursues a career as an undercover Mossad operative.
What’s the statute of limitations on grief? For Dani, five years is still not enough to erase the memory of Dylan, her gorgeous, intelligent husband; he and her infant son, Kieran, were killed in a car accident that she survived. After she recovered from her physical wounds, she spent the next several years training in the Israeli special forces, becoming an expert on information gathering, motorcycle riding and surviving enemy torture. Unfortunately, the demanding work doesn’t heal her but only helps her ignore her true needs. On one of her first vacations, she decides to track down a film star named Troy Morel who looks just like her late husband; it’s part of her plan to say a ritual “goodbye” to Dylan. Will Dani be able to let go of her pain, or will seeing her husband’s suave doppelgänger only make it worse? Wolf’s novel is competently written, with a thrillerlike pace that makes it easy to read. It’s not concise, however, often using two sentences when one will do: “I drove my rented Land Rover into the quaint village of Saint-Sébastien just as the hot summer sun was setting behind me. It was lit by warm gold and orange light.” The novel skirts genres by integrating multiple, seemingly disparate threads; it’s as much a book about spying and deception as it is about emotional vulnerability and romance. This makes the story unusual, even if some scenarios stretch believability at times. Its genres are also frequently at odds with each other; as a romance, readers may want to see more of Dani’s emotional side, and as a thriller, they may want to see more of her take-no-prisoners approach. Wolf’s choice to integrate these elements creates a heroine who feels very divided, which makes for an inventive, if not entirely satisfying, book.
An occasionally implausible romantic spy thriller that delves into the complexity and power of grief.Pub Date: April 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-0991591800
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Annabelle
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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