by Darryl Nyznyk ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 24, 2019
A time-travel treat with a captivating hero.
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A novel focuses on the adventures of an attorney facing a midlife crisis.
Nyznyk’s (The First Gospel, 2017, etc.) protagonist, Jack Darrow, a 50-something lawyer, is mired in ennui: “Maybe by fifty, the real world has so overwhelmed a man that dreams disappear and hopes for adventure, romance, and excitement fade into the mundane reality of everyday life.” Not even the love of his beautiful wife, Julia, and his family is enough to bring Jack out of his funk. So, in a self-indulgent effort to find himself, he goes on a camping trip with old friend Paul Dickson. Unfortunately, the pair soon runs afoul of a trio of brothers straight out of Deliverance. Running for their lives, Jack and Paul hide in a cave only to have it collapse on them and their pursuers. When Jack awakes in the long-ago land of Estandor, he rescues an attractive woman being pursued by a dark knight. The wounded Jack, now back in his college-age body, is taken in by rebels opposed to the rule of the ruthless Cormac Canhagin, which is enforced by his Black Guard. Figuring that he’s stuck in the past, the protagonist throws in with the rebels seeking to overthrow Cormac, even after Jack gets captured. Meanwhile, in the present, Julia and family adjust to life without Jack. Nyznyk has crafted an effective cautionary tale. Characterization is strong in this enjoyable spin on Outlander in which Jack falls for the beautiful Kara but can’t forget his life with Julia. Likewise, Julia can’t move on from soul mate Jack. Cormac is a venal, entitled nobleman who has crushed the humanity out of his head knight, Silver Glen, known as The Dread to his leader’s downtrodden subjects. The best parts of the smooth-flowing narrative are the Estandor scenes and backstory, which take on the flavor of an Edgar Rice Burroughs pulp novel as man-out-of-his-time Jack rallies the rebels. The modern-day scenes, too many of which center on whether the neighborhood lecher will successfully seduce Julia, aren’t nearly as engrossing. But the tale works because readers will become invested in hoping that the new, improved Jack gets his happy ending.
A time-travel treat with a captivating hero.Pub Date: April 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73358-560-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Cross Dove Publishing, LLC
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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
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