Only those fully empowered with eidetic recall need apply.
Thirteenth gigavolume in Lumley’s megaloid vampire epic, and the last of a trilogy (Necroscope: Invaders, 1999; Necroscope: Defilers, 2000).
Lumley’s series swells past mere human ability to keep its metamorphic storywarp on the mindscreen. Nor will a crossdimensional multimap, however wide-angled to include however many astral planes touched on by Lumley, bring sense to the abstract hopscotch of the epic’s general plan. But . . . to sum up: The original Necroscope and top vampire killer, Harry Keogh, dies (no big deal) and splits into several beings, including bits of the evil Lord Malinari (who has his own independent counterpart as well). Harry’s spot in Britain’s top-secret E-Branch (“E” for ESP) has been taken over by young new Necroscope Jake Cutter, who traces Malinari to Australia and destroys his fungi garden (which was spawning spores to enslave all humanity), although The Mind escapes. Lord Malinari and Lady Vavara (that beautiful hag with jewel-green eyes who loves wild honey and wolf hearts) now take up plans to bring humanity into lasting bloodlust and darkness forever, enjoining it to the predawn Vampire World of Starside/Sunside and using Manhattan’s greatest building as its aerie, after lacquering it black inside and out to block out sunlight. (Let us skip over the important Möbius Continuum as a means of metaphysical teleportation.) And we learn Jake’s secret: his mind bears vampire intelligence. Now on the run, Malinari and Vavara take over a gigantic ultramodern pleasure cruiser and soon infect its entire population with fear of sunlight. Should E-Branch sink this ship? Its very lifeboats are worth millions. Later, mentalist Ben Trask takes over much of the novel and, with a task force of E-Branch avengers, pursues Malinari, Vavara, and a host of girls from the vampirized cruise ship. Will Jake’s secret vampire intelligence become a power against Malinari? The climax feels more Schwarzeneggerian than occult.
Only those fully empowered with eidetic recall need apply.Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-312-87923-7
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
With a sweeping bow to Virginia Woolf, McEwan combines insight, penetrating historical understanding, and sure-handed...
McEwan’s latest, both powerful and equisite, considers the making of a writer, the dangers and rewards of imagination, and the juncture between innocence and awareness, all set against the late afternoon of an England soon to disappear.
In the first, longest, and most compelling of four parts, McEwan (the Booker-winning Amsterdam, 1998) captures the inner lives of three characters in a moment in 1935: upper-class 13-year-old Briony Tallis; her 18-year-old sister, Cecilia; and Robbie Turner, son of the family’s charlady, whose Cambridge education has been subsidized by their father. Briony is a penetrating look at the nascent artist, vain and inspired, her imagination seizing on everything that comes her way to create stories, numinous but still childish. She witnesses an angry, erotic encounter between her sister and Robbie, sees an improper note, and later finds them hungrily coupling; misunderstanding all of it, when a visiting cousin is sexually assaulted, Briony falsely brings blame to bear on Robbie, setting the course for all their lives. A few years later, we see a wounded and feverish Robbie stumbling across the French countryside in retreat with the rest of the British forces at Dunkirk, while in London Briony and Cecilia, long estranged, have joined the regiment of nurses who treat broken men back from war. At 18, Briony understands and regrets her crime: it is the touchstone event of her life, and she yearns for atonement. Seeking out Cecilia, she inconclusively confronts her and a war-scarred Robbie. In an epilogue, we meet Briony a final time as a 77-year-old novelist facing oblivion, whose confessions reframe everything we’ve read.
With a sweeping bow to Virginia Woolf, McEwan combines insight, penetrating historical understanding, and sure-handed storytelling despite a conclusion that borrows from early postmodern narrative trickery. Masterful.Pub Date: March 19, 2002
ISBN: 0-385-50395-4
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2001
An emotionally wrenching story with a dramatic happily-ever-after.
A young woman with secrets finds home, community and a potential new love in a small North Carolina beach town; now if she can only rid herself of a past that haunts her, she may just have the life she’s always longed for.
No one in Southport, N.C., seems too concerned with the fact that Katie wants to keep to herself, even if it is a small town, and she’s a mysterious, pretty woman. But since there’s only one attractive, eligible man in the whole town—Alex, the widowed owner of the town’s general store—then it only makes sense that the two would notice each other. Throw in a couple of events that allow Katie to show herself as a woman of character (despite her secretive ways) and Alex to represent a perfect man, and of course, the two of them will wind up on the path to true love. Especially since she’s great with kids, and he just happens to have two of them, to whom he is a gentle, wonderful father with the patience of a saint. But, alas, Katie is a woman with secrets, and that generally means that there is someone out there looking for her. Since Katie lives in a tiny, isolated shack in the middle of nowhere, it’s a good thing she likes her quirky new neighbor, Jo. Jo encourages her to become more invested in Alex, who, everyone knows, is a good man. Romance progresses. A haunting past life catches up with Katie with frightening consequences. Love prevails.
An emotionally wrenching story with a dramatic happily-ever-after.Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-455-52354-2
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2013
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