This third mystery novel in a series continues the temporal and spiritual investigations of Detective Inspector Cecilia Cavaliere in Exeter, England.
In Siding Star (2012) and Peacekeeper (2013), Exeter-based DI Cecilia Cavaliere (her parents are Italian) looked into mysteries with supernatural elements, often receiving help from religious figures including Anglican priest Michael Aarons. Now married, Cecilia and Michael have a 3-year-old daughter, a dog and two cats, all comfortably ensconced in a sprawling Victorian rectory. In this third outing, Cecilia is called on to temporarily serve as detective chief inspector while police headquarters are being built for the huge, new United Nations Institute for Technological Experimentation and Development in Edgestow. (Similarities with C.S. Lewis and That Hideous Strength are intentional and acknowledged.) Though somewhat reluctant—the place gives her bad vibes, and she’ll be away for most of three months—Cecilia agrees. When the deaths of some illegal immigrants seem linked to U.N.I.T.E.D., Cecilia and DS Verity Jones head to ask questions at the enormous, heavily guarded steel-and-glass tower. They soon find themselves forced into playing a conscienceless egomaniac’s very dangerous and real computer game based on historical events in Cecilia’s family. As in his earlier volumes, Bryan (Listening to the Bible: The Art of Faithful Biblical Interpretation, 2013, etc.) confronts evil with good in an intelligent, satisfying way, even though the dice are somewhat loaded: For example, the supersmart villains haven’t considered GPS tracking; Cecilia has the advantage of historical knowledge in making her game choices; and supernatural in-game help arrives in the form of Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld, a Jesuit who died in 1635. As with his earlier work, Bryan offers a thoughtful view of faith in daily practice. Worrying about Cecilia, Michael realizes he must instead focus on his duties and commend her to God: “And wasn’t that, after all, the point of all the tough Ignatian spirituality that his guides…had been endeavoring to teach him over the years?” Indeed, tough spirituality is a hallmark of Bryan’s work.
Somewhat slight compared with earlier entries in the series, but another well-written, enjoyable mystery.
Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: The Diamond Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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