A tale that offers an insider’s view of the drug trade but lacks narrative momentum.
Over dinner, a man tells his son-in-law the story of how he became a convicted drug trafficker in Ramsey’s debut novel.
The unnamed narrator is perplexed as to why he would be invited to dine with the father of his soon-to-be ex-wife; he hasn’t dined alone with him in nearly two years. After some preliminaries, author Ramsey gets to the heart of the matter—Emilio’s book-length recounting of what happened after he accepted an offer to fly planes for a drug cartel, which he calls “the worst decision of my life.” In what’s essentially a long monologue—interrupted at times by the waiter—Emilio chronicles the mechanics of drug trafficking, close calls with the Drug Enforcement Administration, notoriety after being profiled on the reality TV series America’s Most Wanted, going on the lam, and ultimately, his arrest. (The general format of the novel has similarities to that of the 1981 film My Dinner with Andre, which apparently inspired the title, although the stories’ details vary considerably.) The latter part of the book, which deals with Emilio’s incarceration, is the most effective section. But ultimately, the novel never satisfactorily answers the baffled narrator’s own question to himself: “Why tonight and why now?” He was married to Emilio’s daughter for 17 years, but in all that time, he notes, Emilio “rarely spoke openly about those [prison] years, especially never to me.” The book has no chapter breaks, which can make it a bit of a slog to read at times. Emilio’s story is laid out mostly as a series of summarized incidents, rather than as effectively dramatized scenes. That said, Ramsey based Emilio’s story on interviews with real-life, small-time drug traffickers and DEA agents, which gives it a redeeming element of authenticity, particularly in the harrowing sections that deal with the brutality of life in a maximum-security prison. Still, some readers may find it hard to feel much sympathy for an admitted drug trafficker.
A tale that offers an insider’s view of the drug trade but lacks narrative momentum.Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-64350-714-9
Page Count: 202
Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2019
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
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