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Psycho Save Us

Name: Psycho Save Us
Author: Chad Huskins
ISBN: 978-1482064735

by Chad Huskins ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 13, 2013

A disconcerting central character is adeptly balanced by a strong young girl likely to win readers’ hearts.

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Huskins’ (Khan in Rasputin’s Shadow, 2009) latest thriller follows two kidnapped young sisters who find help from an unlikely source—a psychopathic serial killer.

A late-night excursion for groceries takes a dark turn for Kaley and Shannon, young siblings taken by a Russian group that deals in human trafficking. It seems that the only witness to the abduction, Spencer Pelletier, isn’t sticking around; a seasoned criminal and killer, he escaped from the Leavenworth federal penitentiary two years ago and would prefer avoiding the cops. While authorities search for the girls and Spencer, Kaley uses an ability her grandmother called “the charm” to develop a telepathic connection to Spencer. A disturbing man, Spencer behaves in twisted ways disclosed rather bluntly—particulars of his murders involve a rather uncomfortable amount of biting. He may make some readers squeamish, and he’s certainly hard to like when he’s gathering funds and false identification to continue hiding from police, all while two girls are being held captive. But Huskins smartly turns Spencer into a necessary evil: Kaley’s “charm” sets him on a path often reserved for heroes, and the kidnappers, whose vile deeds exclusively include children, are much worse. The true protagonist, however, and the story’s finest character, is 12-year-old Kaley. She’s a motherlike figure for her younger sister, Shannon—their real mother is a meth addict—and even to Bonetta, another abducted girl. Her initial encounter with Spencer at a local store is astonishing—they unnerve one another, her sensing that he’s a murderer, him believing she’s recognized him—and brilliantly establishes a bizarre alliance that’s maintained throughout the story. The novel sustains a high level of intensity, with the girls rarely being left alone and their captors moving them while keeping them under surveillance. It also teases Spencer’s past transgressions—namely an incident in Baton Rouge and what exactly happened to a schoolmate in the fifth grade. The inevitable confrontation between Spencer and the human traffickers may not be to everyone’s tastes, but its audacious over-the-top approach is certainly imaginative and not likely to be forgotten.

A disconcerting central character is adeptly balanced by a strong young girl likely to win readers’ hearts.

Pub Date: April 13, 2013

ISBN: 978-1482064735

Page Count: -

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: July 22, 2013

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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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.