Piatt’s (Banned Questions About Christians, 2013, etc.) first foray into fiction is a religious thriller about a secret group aiming to incite the second coming.
Jacob is a relatively typical 19-year-old who works at a record store in Denver, plays sax and rides a skateboard. But he also has strange dreams of Jesus, set around the time that he was crucified, and wakes up with his own wrists seeping blood. He finds out about a strange man in black who’s been asking others about him and who later breaks into his co-op room. The man works for a group called The Project. New York journalist Nica has previously investigated the group, which crops up again when she’s writing an article about the Titulus Crucis, a piece of wood that’s reputedly a relic of Jesus’ crucifixion. The Project, it seems, is using science to engineer the second coming of Christ, a fact which eventually leads Nica to Jacob. This short novel is rich with detail, and many of Nica’s interviews feel like history lessons; at one point, for example, she and Dr. Pavel, who analyzed a sample of the Titulus Crucis, discuss the mutual appreciation between science and religion. But no part of Nica’s investigation feels tedious, and most of what she learns becomes important as she closes in on The Project’s ultimate goal. The more exciting, modern scenes are offset by the slower scenes of Jesus at the cross and during the days that followed. The two time periods alternate throughout the novel; the placid, engaging tale of the persecution of Jesus’ followers nicely counterbalances the tense, contemporary thriller, which later features a kidnapping. The novel also boasts an understated love story between Jacob and Elena and expanding intrigue as Jacob realizes that there’s much more to his life than vivid dreams. Readers will likely see where the story’s headed, as Piatt does drop quite a few hints as it goes along. He also smoothly sets up a potential sequel.
An inspired, stimulating religious thriller.
Pub Date: May 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1938633553
Page Count: 186
Publisher: Samizdat Creative
Review Posted Online: July 8, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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