An ardent supernatural tale with a bundle of appealing, electric characters.
Someone controlling a fierce storm attacks a secret government agency that works with aliens in this second installment of a YA series.
Eric Jansen is an alien who’s lived on Earth for centuries. In his human form, he’s a mere teen, albeit a roguishly good-looking drummer in a rock band. But his true alien form is the catalyst for the Mothman legend in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. When his failed attempt to save a bridge jumper sparks yet another Mothman sighting, the Agency, Eric’s covert government employer, disciplines him. He’s an asset to the Agency, as he regularly snacks on vampires who, like Eric, are offworlders (excluding the humans turned into vampires). Eric knows he must follow the rules on the humans’ planet so he willingly heads to the Agency’s base for punishment. But once there, along with his human pals Bridget North and Alaire “Duey” Dupont and his handler, Agent Carey Warner, an icy storm aggressively targets the base. Eric manages to escape and tracks down his only clue: information on the dead bridge jumper, Dr. Henry Wallen, a storm scientist. Meanwhile, Bridget, Duey, and Warner try to combat the storm while stuck inside the base. Butler’s (Wrong Side of the Grave, 2015, etc.) delightful supernatural novel moves at a frantic pace with beaucoup action. While the titular storm is the focus, there are intermittent subplot teases throughout, some possibly for later series installments. For example, Eric has good reason to be fearful when Bridget’s estranged mother, Miranda, contacts her daughter. Character backstories are so comprehensive that numerous spinoffs are feasible. Duey, in particular, could carry his own series; after his death in the late 18th century, his consciousness lived inside computers before its present-day return to a 19-year-old body. Interactions between Eric and Bridget are endearing (romance is unquestionably brewing), even if the two characters are disappointingly separated for much of this volume. Their scenes are also quite funny, such as discussing the unintentionally misleading names of Bridget’s book review blog: “Stacked and Dangerous” and “Between the Covers with Bridget.”
An ardent supernatural tale with a bundle of appealing, electric characters.Pub Date: March 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-79530-087-2
Page Count: 179
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
