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
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
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
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