The Burning Girl is losing her spark.
Charlotte Rowe and her Terminator-like abilities return in this follow-up to Bone Music (2018).
Charlotte “Charley” Rowe, aka “Burning Girl,” was raised by serial-killer couple Daniel and Abigail Banning after they killed her mother and kidnapped her when she was a baby. After she was rescued at age 7, she was returned to her father, who promptly exploited her ordeal for profit. Now she’s an adult living in Altamira, California, with her boyfriend, sheriff’s deputy Luke Prescott, and her life, if anything, has only gotten stranger. Just a few months ago, Noah Turlington, Charley’s therapist (who's not really a therapist) used her to test a drug called Zypraxon without her knowledge, and boy did it work. Using fear as a trigger, each pill gives Charley about three hours of superhuman strength. If all that seems exhausting, just wait. Now, she helps Noah’s employer, pharma millionaire Cole Graydon, neutralize serial killers, who are tracked down by Luke’s cybergenius brother, Bailey. Readers may roll their eyes at the tired scenario of Charley posing as a prostitute in order to get taken by a killer (who, of course, skins his female victims), and, adding insult to injury, she gets set on fire at the culmination of the mission. Don’t worry, though, because Zypraxon ensures full healing. Yep, Charley is a bona fide superhero, but readers hoping for more missions that see Charley taking down serial killers may be disappointed, because Luke and Charley uncover a possible terrorist plot that threatens the town, and for Charley, the danger hits very close to home. More is revealed about Cole, who let his romantic interest in Noah cloud his judgment, and Rice has something to say about the devastating effects of childhood trauma and what makes a monster, but much of it gets lost in an overstuffed narrative that relies heavily on expository dialogue and over-the-top action scenes built for maximum shock value.
The Burning Girl is losing her spark.Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5039-0435-4
Page Count: 366
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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