Heady, madcap fun in a sequel that surpasses the original.
In the second installment of Roberts’ (Ed Savage and the Savage Murders Trilogy, 2016) thriller series, the Savage family confronts kidnappers and salacious rumors.
After the events of the last novel, wealthy intelligence operative and TV star Ed Savage and his family members are recovering from the loss of loved ones. One of those lost is Cara Vanderran Savage, Ed’s sister-in-law; her sister, Zolie Vanderran, seeks closure at the Vreeland Hills Sanatorium, where she hopes to speak to one of the inmates responsible for Cara’s death. Unfortunately, Dr. Stanley Sinardi works there, and he has a grudge against Ed for stealing the spotlight on Stan’s reality TV series, Phantom Finders, and later pitting his own show against Stan’s. Later, when Ed and other Savages go looking for Zolie, they face not only Stan, but another deadly doctor who took her captive. Ed’s troubles only escalate after someone abducts two of his nieces; an interviewer blindsides him with an allegation of “sick sex games”; and an old case of his resurfaces following the discovery of warheads from a missing submarine. Meanwhile, Ed’s wife, Marlo, who’s preparing to be on the reality show Tycoon Wives, gets distressing news that could destroy the couple’s marriage, and a subsea earthquake triggers a tsunami that puts multiple Savage family members in peril. Clearly, Roberts packs his frenzied novel with numerous subplots and characters. His ability to manage them all is most impressive, and he makes the relationships between the many players abundantly clear. (That said, it is recommended that readers first tackle Volume 1 in order to understand relevant references.) Likewise, the author bounces around various plotlines with ease; for instance, he effectively establishes the creepiness of the hospital before Ed and company stroll its corridors. The story dabbles in multiple genres, including action and horror, and the family drama could have filled a book on its own. The end result is a dizzying ride, and readers will doubtlessly anticipate the Savages’ third go-round.
Heady, madcap fun in a sequel that surpasses the original.Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-692-90388-9
Page Count: 608
Publisher: Savage Roberts Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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