A gritty action tale with a central character who’s less compelling than those in his orbit.
A young man becomes a contractor for the CIA in this action-adventure tale.
As a 13-year-old in the 1960s, Eli Rose watches I Love Lucy, wanders the Miami streets and hangs out at the Gayety Burlesque. There he meets the polished, moneyed Vicente Amarón—the man has ties to organized crime, but Eli still wants to be like “Mr. Slick.” After Eli’s father dies, he learns that he is now accountable for a business loan from the mob and payback will come through his participation in a reckless mission, financed by anti-Castro mobster Morgenthal. Vicente becomes Eli’s mentor, teaching him, among other things, how to read people. After graduating college, Eli accepts employment at an import-export firm, and his connections are exploited by those whose faith in La Lucha—the struggle to free Cuba of communism—never falters. Soon Eli meets Robert “The Redhead” Jasper, a loose cannon who brandishes a .45 and bonds with Eli through a blood ritual. On orders from Morgenthal, Eli, Jasper and Vicente depart for Cuba and nonstop action ensues until the book’s final page. Some nice turns-of-phrase establish the setting—“The air was thick with the smell of jasmine and rotting trees, and it clung to Eli like clear syrup.” Eli is appealing, particularly in his relationship with father-figure Vicente, but as complex characters, Vicente and Jasper outweigh Eli. The young man’s allegiances may be misplaced, and at times he responds as if he is numb, in spite of the carnage around him. His driving force is “kill or be killed”—not the most original credo in the world, but understandable when body parts are flying. Pacing is brisk, but not breakneck, with tension building to an eventual face-off between Eli and Jasper—just how crazy is Jasper, and how far will he go? Although Eli confronts danger in various venues, readers never doubt that he’ll survive for at least two more books in the series, removing some dramatic tension. In future installments, Eli needs to evolve more, and command center stage.
A gritty action tale with a central character who’s less compelling than those in his orbit.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2010
ISBN: 978-0966974942
Page Count: 327
Publisher: Robert N. Erlich
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2011
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
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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