This philosophical mystery will captivate readers thanks to a winning cast and setting.
Life and death keep getting in the way of a man attempting to heal in this debut novel.
At the heart of Heath’s mystery is Alan Wright. Residents of Eden Ridge, California, still look askance at fledgling minister Alan, who built his House of the Universal Message there at the urging of his friend and loyal parishioner Ruth MacKenzie. Alan is also the person who discovers the murdered Ruth in her antiques shop when he stops by to pick up a mystery gift that she promised him (“A pool of blood, black after hours in the open air, formed an ugly halo around her paper-white hair”). Ruth’s death hits Alan particularly hard, as he is still recovering from the loss of his wife, Patricia, in an auto accident two years prior. He decides he owes it to Ruth to investigate her murder, much to the annoyance of the local police chief. The Little Red Hens, a group of civically minded women that Ruth led, decide to help Alan. Alan determines that his gift from Ruth was to have been a rare 1612 Bible, which disappeared from her safe on the night she was killed. Alan doesn’t believe that the suspect who was caught fencing items from Ruth’s shop murdered her. He maintains the theft of the Bible increases the suspect pool, and he puts himself and those around him in danger as a result. In this series opener, Heath makes very few missteps. The author offers likable characters, starting with Alan, a man of mystery seeking to overcome his personal tragedy while standing up for people in his adopted hometown even though many have not embraced him. His Greek chorus is the Little Red Hens, some of whom fancy themselves as the town’s version of Jessica Fletcher. Heath’s villains are too obvious, but the reveal is enjoyable nevertheless. Even the former Gold Rush town of Eden Ridge becomes a character. Despite the book’s 376 pages, the narrative flies along, and the author will successfully keep readers guessing about upcoming surprises. This well-handled introduction of Heath’s reluctant hero Alan and his sidekicks bodes well for future volumes.
This philosophical mystery will captivate readers thanks to a winning cast and setting.Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2022
ISBN: 979-8-9866204-0-4
Page Count: 495
Publisher: Nine Pines Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored.
Inspired by David Copperfield, Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South.
It’s not necessary to have read Dickens’ famous novel to appreciate Kingsolver’s absorbing tale, but those who have will savor the tough-minded changes she rings on his Victorian sentimentality while affirming his stinging critique of a heartless society. Our soon-to-be orphaned narrator’s mother is a substance-abusing teenage single mom who checks out via OD on his 11th birthday, and Demon’s cynical, wised-up voice is light-years removed from David Copperfield’s earnest tone. Yet readers also see the yearning for love and wells of compassion hidden beneath his self-protective exterior. Like pretty much everyone else in Lee County, Virginia, hollowed out economically by the coal and tobacco industries, he sees himself as someone with no prospects and little worth. One of Kingsolver’s major themes, hit a little too insistently, is the contempt felt by participants in the modern capitalist economy for those rooted in older ways of life. More nuanced and emotionally engaging is Demon’s fierce attachment to his home ground, a place where he is known and supported, tested to the breaking point as the opiate epidemic engulfs it. Kingsolver’s ferocious indictment of the pharmaceutical industry, angrily stated by a local girl who has become a nurse, is in the best Dickensian tradition, and Demon gives a harrowing account of his descent into addiction with his beloved Dori (as naïve as Dickens’ Dora in her own screwed-up way). Does knowledge offer a way out of this sinkhole? A committed teacher tries to enlighten Demon’s seventh grade class about how the resource-rich countryside was pillaged and abandoned, but Kingsolver doesn’t air-brush his students’ dismissal of this history or the prejudice encountered by this African American outsider and his White wife. She is an art teacher who guides Demon toward self-expression, just as his friend Tommy provokes his dawning understanding of how their world has been shaped by outside forces and what he might be able to do about it.
An angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-325-1922
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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