An impressive first mystery.
The promising first installment in Cardin’s planned Taylor Case mystery series.
Dr. Taylor Case, professor of forensic science at Georgetown University, has been obsessed with child predators since her brother David was abducted when they were children. At night, the professor masquerades as “Hunter,” tracking down those who exploit children by pretending to be one of them. When her young nephew’s friend is kidnapped from his yard, Taylor deepens her involvement in the underworld of child pornographers and predators. But that makes her the target of some very dangerous people and brings the FBI to her doorstep, as they’re uncertain on which side of the law Taylor is operating. Her investigation into child exploitation is not the only aspect of her double life–she keeps her sexual preferences a secret from her hypercritical, overbearing father. As entranced as she is by her new love interest, the mesmerizing female Czech art authenticator Alex Haas, Taylor has doubts about her honesty. Cardin takes the reader on a gritty, disturbing journey to a world most would prefer not to know–populated by those who get their kicks from and make obscene amounts of money off perversion. Despite the chilling realism of the story, the author imbues the plot with some cautious optimism, not just for Taylor but for those she struggles to save. Comparable to the work of Tess Gerritsen, Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs, Case Study defies easy categorization, with elements of forensic, procedural and cozy mysteries, but with a gay-friendly romance subplot–even if the concluding love scene reads like an afterthought. Well-written, suspenseful and meticulously plotted, Cardin’s debut novel is flawed only by Taylor’s near perfection. Her beauty, brilliance and superior investigative abilities become implausible as the book progresses.
An impressive first mystery.Pub Date: May 27, 2008
ISBN: 978-097941289
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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SEEN & HEARD
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