Enjoyable more as an intriguing drama than a procedural page-turner.
In Eldon’s debut mystery, a husband returns from his morning jog to find his wife missing, but the authorities aren’t ready to pronounce him innocent.
When distraught Jack Turner turns to the police for help finding his wife, Detective Marty Lufkin finds something devious in the man’s account; he’s determined to prove that Jack wanted his wife gone. However, Marty’s partner, Ryan Sullivan, isn’t convinced, and he spots a possible connection to another suspect. The two cops work their case from separate ends, while Jack tries to keep the police from digging into his past. The lives of the detectives are the heart of Eldon’s book. Marty, in particular, spends more time brooding than examining case details or questioning people. He becomes disillusioned with his job while coming to terms with his divorce and a cop friend’s suicide. Yet, it’s the book’s behind-the-scenes approach that makes for a great read. Sequences like a closeted gay detective who wants to come out to his partner prove more engrossing than the case itself, which often takes a backseat. The investigation unfolds slowly and only shines when various pieces start fitting together: a man fleeing a routine stop; a young boy hit by a bicyclist, etc. Sporadic passages featuring an unidentified, bloody woman in pain and her sexually explicit encounters with an unnamed man help preserve the mystery of Jack’s missing wife. Meanwhile, Jack’s ambivalent behavior, such as telling no one at work that his wife is gone, will keep readers guessing. Eldon fuels the story with pointed dialogue that rings true to its speakers, which is fortunate, since the majority of the novel consists of characters conversing. One inspired bit has Marty and Ryan on separate phone calls that, for a brief moment, sound as if the two men are speaking to one another.
Enjoyable more as an intriguing drama than a procedural page-turner.Pub Date: July 9, 2009
ISBN: 978-0578025131
Page Count: 206
Publisher: Alpha Dog Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
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