Powerful people want to kill a news story—and then kill the reporter who’s tracking it. The first noteworthy item about the body roasting in the Mojave Desert was that it seemed to have fallen out of the sky. No vehicle in sight, no tire tracks or other sign of transport, no town nearer than 20 miles. Next, there’s the matter of how the body was identified—by a set of dog tags belonging to an American soldier lost in the Vietnam War. Reporter Johnny Rose finds his well worn nose for news beginning to twitch. But before he can start serious digging, stop signals emanate from some rather surprising sources—his editor, for instance. And then a Vietnamese friend of Johnny’s is murdered halfway into the story of what’s been scaring him. Johnny says only that he’s seen something that reason tells him is impossible. How could Captain Kyle Loveless be on the streets of L.A. yesterday when he was killed in Laos 30 years ago? Now Johnny’s twitching is uncontrollable. Before he can yell stop the presses, however, he himself has become a potential murder victim. It’s clear someone’s trying to frame him, but why? And is he really supposed to believe POWs have been wending their way home after all these years? If so, what’s the point of keeping that a secret? Does the answer connect to the owner of a certain newspaper (Johnny’s) and that owner’s vaunting ambition to be governor? In time-honored thriller fashion, Johnny realizes he must solve the riddles alone or face severe consequences. Shot at, beaten up, and considerably the worse for wear, he hangs in to the bittersweet end. Much livelier than Freadhoff’s debut (Codename: Cipher, 1991). Add a shade more nuance to the characters, a bit more dash to the writing, and it could have been a contender.
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-019217-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
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
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
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