Ruthless killers spark terrifying scenes throughout even if the ending remains a bit incomplete.
A relaxing excursion into the mountains turns into a nightmare when a New York family must face crazed, revenge-seeking killers in this debut thriller.
Film and TV star Ed Savage is looking forward to getting away to Black Ridge Falls with his extended family. He hopes it’ll ease tensions with his wife, Marlo, whose recent failed audition led to her anger-tinged envy of her husband’s success. An impatient Ed leaves early with Marlo; their youngest daughter, 6-year-old Lisa; and Marlo’s brother Simon Winchester. Unfortunately, things are bad almost immediately: Simon and Lisa both disappear right before a strange man attacks Marlo. The man, attempting to flee with the woman, crashes the family’s RV, with Marlo winding up in an induced coma. Cops subsequently arrest Ed, sure he was driving the RV, and the others remain missing. Hearing what’s happened, Lisa’s big sister, Ava, and cousin Heather Savage grab boyfriends and friends, pile into another RV, and head up to the mountains. No one’s prepared for the murderous group of people awaiting them, unmistakably targeting the Savages in retribution for a couple killed years ago. The family fights back, but while some make it home, they aren’t yet safe—one or more of the culprits is still alive. Despite the book being split into three sections, Roberts’ narrative is seamless, simply moving the frights back to New York and later a superyacht. Part 1, just over half the book, is the most invigorating. Family members/friends falling victim to brutal murders is merely the start: there’s also a mudslide-generating storm and tabloid sister-reporters determined to find dirt on Ed, a reputed philanderer. The second part follows suit, essentially a second wave of assaults, further delving into the baddies’ motive (possibly relevant to Ed’s wealthy dad, Nathan) and adding a new, more dangerous foe. The author only falters on the comparatively short final part, chock full of twists and revelations, which feels as if Roberts is speeding to the end, leaving too many unanswered questions in his wake. Nevertheless, characters boast riveting backgrounds, from Ed’s TV career consisting predominantly of hosting reality series to the reason Simon was at one point institutionalized.
Ruthless killers spark terrifying scenes throughout even if the ending remains a bit incomplete.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-692-53973-6
Page Count: 450
Publisher: Savage Roberts Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 11, 2016
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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