A heady, visceral police thriller.
In Nelson’s debut crime thriller, a city cop faces an evil conspiracy.
Anthony Maddoc is a scarred soul, with a violent, traumatic past as a soldier in Vietnam. He channels that dark energy into his job as a policeman in New York City, where he’s faced with the vicissitudes of human nature, in the office as well as on the street. A deep feud between Maddoc and a hellbent, barbarous lieutenant precedes a series of tragic events. Maddoc’s wife, Marie, is murdered during a mysterious home invasion, in which their house is nearly burned to the ground; later, their daughter, Sylvi, is kidnapped by people whose practices are as bizarre and intricate as their ties to the police force, powerful corporations, politics, and the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, members of the massive, secretive Matterlink Foundation seek information about a strange man, Otha Gubbin, who is the head of a black-market adoption agency and a notorious rapist, bigamist, and cult leader. He preys on young, naïve homeless women and sells their infants for ridiculous profit. Sylvi soon finds herself embroiled in this horrific underworld of murder, coercion, and sexual assault, wondering how to stay alive. Maddoc and his few trusted friends pursue her, hoping to unravel the mystery, as those involved with Matterlink try to cover their tracks. This remarkable thriller offers psychological intricacy and intellectual substance. Nelson makes its criminal activities seem real and convincing, never sacrificing palpable details for generalizations. Ultimately, it’s a story about the consequences of revenge and about what can happen when the hidden, insidious machinery of power reaches into everyday life. It also balances its commitment to its plot with rousing, sudden flashes of action: “Erla came at him with the stick. Vincent, his combat instincts taking over, deflected the stick and smashed her nose flat and to the left of her face with the heel of his hand. She passed out.”
A heady, visceral police thriller.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-4575-3239-9
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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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