A captivating examination of humanity’s fear of the unknown, with hints of sci-fi and fantasy.
Donovan (Conspiracy Films, 2011, etc.) ventures into fiction with this story of baffling stone globes suddenly appearing around the world and the ways in which the populace responds.
Ex-cop Rick Ballantine may have stumbled on a topic for the reality TV show pilot he’s shooting, Confirmation: Investigations of the Unexplained. More specifically, he crashes into it: a 15-foot-wide stone globe sitting on a gravelly California road. It’s the type of unexplained event the Confirmation crew fancies, especially as there’s no indication of anyone transporting the globe to that spot. Skeptics, like the local authorities, are sure there’s a reasonable explanation, even when an identical sphere appears in New Jersey. But when multiple globes crop up worldwide, civilians and conspiracy theorists flock to the sites. Rick and his colleagues—including journalist Cornelia Oxenburg and the show’s academic, Dan Knight— become the center of the media’s attention for their initial discovery. Debates on the nature of the globes are incessant, with assorted reactions: Some believe they’re a sign of aliens while others see them as a government subterfuge. But soon come the “hum-experiencers,” people who say they can hear a buzzing sound emitting from the globes. Is it a message or simply a series of unfounded claims? Despite the possibly supernatural globes, Donovan’s leisurely paced novel concentrates on the human element. Citizens in different countries, for example, presuming governments are hiding the truth of extraterrestrials, stage sometimes-violent protests. There’s likewise an exhaustive backstory; the Chinese triads’ involvement in a globe-related explosion precipitates the discussion of a 1970s Bruce Lee–imitating film star that’s entertaining but digressive. Nevertheless, the tale is at its best when presenting diverse forms of media; most chapters conclude with a newspaper article, while characters relay information via blogs, podcasts, and social media. These are sometimes-comical: DJs on a vapid radio show seem irritated that some of the globes appear outside the U.S. The ending provides a few clarifications and lingering questions for readers to ponder.
A captivating examination of humanity’s fear of the unknown, with hints of sci-fi and fantasy.Pub Date: July 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62989-950-3
Page Count: 326
Publisher: World Castle Publishing, LLC
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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