A Big Bad Wind avenges the murder of Native American shaman Black Wolf by destroying large areas of Seattle: a rousing supernatural thriller by first-novelist Kersey. A mysterious vision about a boy with no ears drives Black Wolf, shaman of the Caribou People in Western Canada, to Seattle, where he is murdered in an alley by street punks. As he dies, Black Wolf calls upon the great spirit in the Wind, the Williwaw, to find the boy with no ears, finish Black Wolf's quest for him, and avenge his death. Soon Seattle and its nearby waters are hit by fantastic squalls and pinpoint tornadoes, while its huge new 98-story office building, now home of Williwaw, starts losing big windows and chunks of concrete onto the streets below. The story turns on Evan Baker, a deaf 12-year-old, who seemingly must either be sacrificed to Williwaw or defeat the Wind by one ruse or another. As it happens, Evan remains more of a heroic victim, while dropout Native American Paul Judge, a lawyer, takes on the Wind and eventually goes into the spirit world to find the Soul Catcher, an ivory rod that might be able to flatten Williwaw. In a series of subplots, Helen Anderson, an elderly widow, offers background information to down-and-out journalist Billy Mossman, who sees in the Williwaw a chance to reinstate his reputation, while Evan's mother, a public relations hack for the grungy mayor who's up for reelection, enlists Paul Judge to help save her son from the black deeds of the Wind. Meanwhile, the more nerve-jangling parts of the novel show a chopper falling from the air, a 747 being trashed, a ferry sinking with hundreds on board. Then Williwaw winds up for its major punches into downtown Seattle. Neatly suspenseful despite a ``thinking'' Wind for villain, with characters who carry just enough flesh for the story as they face one blustery cliffhanger after another.
Pub Date: Nov. 15, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-13606-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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