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MIDNIGHT IS A LONELY PLACE

Name: MIDNIGHT IS A LONELY PLACE
Author: Barbara Erskine
ISBN: 0-525-93862-1

by Barbara Erskine ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1994

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Initially gripping, Erskine's follow-up to her successful Lady of Hay (1987) ultimately reads like a bad TV movie. British biographer Kate Kennedy rents a cottage in North Essex to write her new book and recover from a soured relationship with immature Jon Bevan. The landlord's son Greg, a talented painter frustrated by his lack of opportunity, is enraged when his parents rent ``his'' cottage to Kate. When doors start slamming, her computer goes haywire, and maggot-infested dirt piles appear in the cottage, Kate blames Greg. Meanwhile the tide and some digging by Greg's sister uncover a Roman/Druid grave that has lain untouched for centuries, releasing the ghosts of an ill-fated love triangle. This horror/thriller manages to work in a little bit of fascinating history about Boudicca, a Celtic warrior queen who rose against the Romans, and it offers some insight into Celtic/Roman relations. Erskine wisely shies away from the clichÇ of reincarnation, opting instead for demonic possession, but the three spirits illogically possess different people and wreak different levels of havoc. The author could have pumped new blood into this tired genre by further elaborating her theme of colonization, whether Londoners' gentrification of East Anglia or British authors' economic need to pander to an American market. Instead she just throws more players into the soup, including Kate's sister, the now remorseful Jon, an unhappy neighboring family, an unflappable taxi driver, and Kate's publisher. The array of threats from the ghosts would be truly frightening if any of the characters, live or dead, were properly developed. But they seem no brighter than mice in a maze; after almost 100 pages of mindless violence, the anticlimactic ending comes as absolutely no surprise. A near miss. Erskine clearly has some talent; with a little more thought—and more historical research—she could do something wonderful.

Pub Date: July 11, 1994

ISBN: 0-525-93862-1

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1994

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.