by Anne McAneny ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 7, 2012
Will appeal especially to readers who like a pinch of the paranormal with their suspense.
In McAneny’s debut thriller, a smart, snarky archaeologist digs up clues surrounding her mother’s death.
When Kyra Collette changed her name to Zoey Kincaid to elude an obsessed college friend, she had no idea that, a decade later, a far more dangerous man would pursue her with deadly intent. In love, pregnant and rather pleased with herself for her detached and sardonic outlook on life, Zoey is blindsided to learn that her mother’s fatal stroke had been caused by a sexual assault. When the family attorney directs her to a safe-deposit box in Virginia, she finds only a letter—but one that predicts her death by the hand of the same rapist, Corbin Black, whom Zoey fears may be her real father. A falling out with her fiancé sets her on a solo quest to unearth the truth about and origins of her mother’s premonition, with only the amiable detective Farnham on her side. Ignorant to the details of her own history, Zoey tracks down her mother’s confidants and estranged sister—all while keeping one step ahead of Black and college stalker Cesar Descutner, the latter tormented by his own psychic tendencies. The swift pacing and tight unfolding of clues makes the book an enjoyable and involving read, particularly as the point of view shifts from Zoey to Corbin to Cesar, keeping readers apprised of each character’s progress and chilling intentions. The shifting perspective of the narrative is less effective when it jumps erratically to minor characters, and a few tangential revelations could have been better placed. However, the distraction is minimal. Although an overly long explanation of the story’s red herring takes some bite off the ending, the buildup to the denouement brings satisfaction. A fresh, snappy thriller that doesn’t dig too deeply for subtext.
Will appeal especially to readers who like a pinch of the paranormal with their suspense.Pub Date: March 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-1470123284
Page Count: 256
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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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