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
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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