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A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN

Name: A TIME TO LOVE IN TEHRAN
Author: CG Fewston
ISBN: 978-1-61296-500-0

by CG Fewston ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 26, 2015

A cerebral, fast-paced thriller.

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Fewston (co-author: Vanity of Vanities, 2011, etc.) delivers an atmospheric and evocative thriller in which an American government secret agent must navigate fluid allegiances and murky principles in 1970s Tehran.

Levi Fiske’s job is to “get a handle” on Iranian Farrokh Bakr. Bakr’s export business selling military weapons and priceless artifacts doesn’t raise much of an eyebrow, but the same can’t be said for his fiery writing directed against the shah. Unfortunately for Fiske, Bakr is slippery. Worse, the assignment comes with two lovely distractions—Leila and Dorri Bakr—Bakr’s glamorous daughters. Besotted by Leila and batting away at teenager Dorri’s unexpected, if not entirely unwelcome, advances, Fiske becomes a little too invested in the Bakr family’s fortunes. This is an uncomfortable turn of events for a hero who is as enigmatic and tortured as Fiske. Haunted by his past in Vietnam, where he had another persona as John Lockwood, the secret agent blames himself for a fellow soldier’s death in the Mekong Delta, and his survivor’s guilt looms large as he once again negotiates life and death under different circumstances. Equally problematic is the terrain: “This is the Middle East,” Fiske’s CIA mentor reminds him, “If you cannot comprehend that when someone says up they mean down, or they direct you left when you’re supposed to go right, you are already lost.” Quite. The question then becomes whether Fiske will find terra firma when he eventually stands on his own. Even if key plot details are sometimes cloaked under too many layers of subterfuge, the reader becomes invested in Fiske’s survival. The evocative prose, narrated in the first person by Fiske, animates Tehran and the countryside. Regarding the Shahyad Aryamehr Monument, he says: “The Iranian monument loomed above us as we emerged, as if from a short intense dream, from the heated snugness of the vibrant taxi and out into the cold air.” The novel is bookended by a few engaging short stories.

A cerebral, fast-paced thriller.

Pub Date: March 26, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-61296-500-0

Page Count: 284

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

Review Posted Online: July 9, 2015

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.