An epic novel in which the historical and thriller elements enrich each other.
Nineteenth-century federal agents hunt for a vicious murderer in the midst of the Civil War in MacKinnon’s (Song for a Shadow, 1991, etc.) historical novel.
In 1864, Maj. Nathaniel Truly of the National Detective Police and Capt. Bart Forbes of the Bureau of Military Information are trying to stop newspaper editor/owner Gideon Van Gilder, a Confederate sympathizer, from fleeing the Union. But when they intercept Van Gilder’s coach, they find the man dead inside, his body mutilated. They link an associate of his to U.S. Rep. Ezra Underhill of Maryland, but a letter written by Van Gilder is most illuminating—vaguely suggesting that he and other men, including Underhill and a detective, are being blackmailed. After another man is murdered, Truly and Forbes search for the blackmailer in order to prevent another killing. The author layers the story with extensive historical background, including such notable events as Lt. Gen. Jubal Early leading Rebel cavalry toward Washington, D.C. The perspective shifts from the investigation to the Confederate army’s preparations and march, but the murder mystery offers the more invigorating story, featuring moments of dark humor: Forbes finds a photograph of a recent murder victim and states bluntly and with no sign of mockery, “Here’s how he looked with his face on.” The military story gradually takes over, but the investigation is never completely sidelined and remains intriguing until the end. Significant secondary characters include Sapphira, a young black woman whom Truly bought at a slave auction, freed and raised as his own daughter; and real-life historical figures such as Gen. Robert E. Lee, who discusses the attempted Capitol seizure with fellow Confederate William Norris. MacKinnon keeps the plot moving at a steady tempo with an agent going undercover, an abduction and even more murders. Readers should brace themselves for a hefty read, however, as the book clocks in at nearly 800 pages.
An epic novel in which the historical and thriller elements enrich each other.Pub Date: July 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0986077401
Page Count: 794
Publisher: Pine Badge Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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