A sometimes-excessive but humorous tale for mystery lovers and foodies.
In Toeller’s debut romance, when a food maven finds a dead body in an armoire in her hotel room, she and a handsome FBI agent are on the case—and a suitably confusing case it is.
The FBI and its German equivalent, the BKA, are desperate to find a particular, tiny computer chip before the bad guys do—one that could be used to cause global economic and political catastrophe. Layne Stevens, the attractive and endearingly klutzy star of her own TV cooking show, is in San Francisco gathering material for an upcoming episode about appetizers when she happens upon the aforementioned corpse. A crack FBI team, led by agent Ryan Cooke, swoops in and secures the crime scene. Layne and Ryan quickly fall in lust, then in love, against a backdrop of chaos and suspicion. Just who are the villains behind the killing, who are controlled by a mysterious entity called “The Employer”? Always lurking nearby is mysterious sharpshooter Sonny Wright, who’s adept at blending into crowds, and later, it appears that an agent may have gone rogue. Things come to a head when Layne and Ryan go to a safe house in the sticks, which turns out to be not so safe at all. As the story goes on, the surprises keep coming, and Toeller shows off an exuberant prose style throughout. However, this exuberance can sometimes spill over into self-indulgence, with occasional sophomoric sexual innuendos and dildo jokes. However, readers who have a high tolerance for the improbable and enjoy a traditional happy ending will like this story, which is the first in a planned series. There are some genuinely amusing scenes, such as a dinner at the Rue de Rêves restaurant with eccentric chef Philippe Degasse. Also, Toeller really does know her recipes—a plus for those who want to test their palates.
A sometimes-excessive but humorous tale for mystery lovers and foodies.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9970647-0-4
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Cliff House Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
© 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
