Intriguing characters, intense action and an exotic, exhilarating plot.
This fast-paced military thriller is set in Central America during Cold War-era late 1980s.
U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Peter Kane is sent to San Cristobal, a fictitious nation bordering Guatemala and El Salvador which is embroiled in a civil war. The San Cristobal government is fighting Communist insurgents–the Gerardo Rivas Popular Army, named after an early 1900s Communist leader from the country. The United States is advising the government as it fights these guerrillas, with Peter playing a central role. Once in the country, however, he quickly finds the conditions to be rough. The soldiers live in squalor, and the overall facilities and environment are less than desirable. Peter must fight his way back to safety after his helicopter is shot down, and later, he seeks revenge for the killing of a colleague. Levy writes with great detail, filling the book with adventure and presenting the protagonist as a Rambo-like hero along the way. Aside from the hero, the novel focuses on Tienente Col. Guzman Clemente, a guerrilla leader who begins to question the meaning of warfare, especially the killing of innocent children. Meanwhile, the Tiche Indians remain separate from the rest of society, and yet, they too are pulled into the war. After Peter saves a Tiche girl, he spends time in her village, experiencing a culture that few outsiders have ever seen. It is a transformative moment, one that sets up the dramatic climax to this fascinating book. The author acknowledges at the conclusion that he wrote El Volcan two decades ago, and it certainly reflects that era. But it remains timely, capturing the horrors of war and the involvement of American soldiers in harm’s way. It captivates the reader from beginning to end.
Intriguing characters, intense action and an exotic, exhilarating plot.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4389-5267-3
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
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.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
