A rip-roaring Western starring a legendary gunfighter; series fans will fervently hope for more.
Set in 1866, this over-the-top Western straddles the line between melodrama and comedy.
There is not so much a plot in this story as a simple premise: John Lee Johnson must die. This demand comes from his archenemy back East, Gen. Frank McGrew, and is reinforced by the high sheriff in Austin, Texas, Robert Lang. For added incentive, the government in Austin is corrupt down to its boot heels and Johnson is a threat to that regime. But there has never been a hero like Johnson. Women blush and bad guys blanch at the sight or even the mention of him. He is the fastest draw and deadliest shot in Texas; the only one coming close is his best friend, Homer Timms. Bad guys show up with the frequency of UPS drivers, and they all learn the hard way. Johnson and Timms see two gunslingers against eight as more than fair odds. The climax comes in a scheme to lure Johnson into Mexico to face off against the best shooter south of the border, Macro Cio. And then there’s Mike Jones, the best gunman in California; he’s perhaps even as good as Johnson. While he was originally supposed to kill Johnson in Mexico, Jones has actually become an ally (there is a long digression touting his virtues). Readers will not be surprised by the effective ending. This is the seventh installment of a series featuring Johnson. Hamlett is clearly proud of his creation and having wonderful fun, with all of the story threads coming back to the larger-than-life Johnson, a parody of the taciturn and virtuous Western hero. Johnson feels no compunction about killing bad guys, but he will spare a villain if he is weak of mind or heart, a misled youth, or any of that ilk. Cio, by the way, is a delightfully farcical character who feels real pain in tearing himself away from a mirror. One of the pleasures of the tale is knowing without a doubt who is going to get his just deserts.
A rip-roaring Western starring a legendary gunfighter; series fans will fervently hope for more.Pub Date: Nov. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-66554-451-1
Page Count: 202
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.
In 16th-century Madrid, a crypto-Jew with a talent for casting spells tries to steer clear of the Inquisition.
Luzia Cotado, a scullion and an orphan, has secrets to keep: “It was a game she and her mother had played, saying one thing and thinking another, the bits and pieces of Hebrew handed down like chipped plates.” Also handed down are “refranes”—proverbs—in “not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish.” When Luzia sings the refranes, they take on power. “Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal” (“A change of scene, a change of fortune”) can mend a torn gown or turn burnt bread into a perfect loaf; “Quien no risica, no rosica” (“Whoever doesn’t laugh, doesn’t bloom”) can summon a riot of foliage in the depths of winter. The Inquisition hangs over the story like Chekhov’s famous gun on the wall. When Luzia’s employer catches her using magic, the ambitions of both mistress and servant catapult her into fame and danger. A new, even more ambitious patron instructs his supernatural servant, Guillén Santángel, to train Luzia for a magical contest. Santángel, not Luzia, is the familiar of the title; he has been tricked into trading his freedom and luck to his master’s family in exchange for something he no longer craves but can’t give up. The novel comes up against an issue common in fantasy fiction: Why don’t the characters just use their magic to solve all their problems? Bardugo has clearly given it some thought, but her solutions aren’t quite convincing, especially toward the end of the book. These small faults would be harder to forgive if she weren’t such a beautiful writer. Part fairy tale, part political thriller, part romance, the novel unfolds like a winter tree bursting into unnatural bloom in response to one of Luzia’s refranes, as she and Santángel learn about power, trust, betrayal, and love.
Lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781250884251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
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