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
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
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