A tale that derives its chills from a moody atmosphere and an unrelenting, unknown antagonist.
An ex-convict gets caught up in a murder investigation in a town full of stories about a local, bloodthirsty witch in Horton’s (Small Towns, Country Roads, & Autumn Leaves, 2010) horror yarn.
Mike, on parole in Ohio for a drug-related charge, needs to make some money, so he opts for selling marijuana. He gets a tip to check out Crossroads Tavern in Uhrichsville, where he makes contact with Lowell, who can supply him with product. Unfortunately, the district attorney already suspects Lowell of running drugs, despite the fact that he uses isolated locations for pickups and has paid off the local deputy, Harris. Both the deputy and DA also believe that Lowell’s responsible for the disappearance of Harley Mullins, who recently braved the nearby swamp to disprove a swamp-witch legend. Townspeople have attributed a number of vanishings to said witch, and Mike appears to buy into the folklore. As he retrieves marijuana bundles at night, in cemeteries or abandoned churches, he becomes convinced that someone’s watching him. This could be chalked up to paranoia, but that doesn’t explain Mike’s sightings of a strange, hooded woman in the forest. He later dreams of her, certain that she has a secret to reveal. He searches for the truth, but he may not like the end result, which entails the death of at least one person. Horton’s novel thrives on ambience, which he establishes right away with a tavern patron’s story of the titular swamp witch. Readers never know any more than the protagonist does, so the legend’s validity (or lack thereof) isn’t clear for much of the book. Recurrent descriptions of rain and wind make for an effectively ominous environment, although sometimes Mike seems to be merely scaring himself when he hears strange noises. Horton ties in a mystery, as well, with Nicole the barmaid having “shacked up” with Harley and possibly Lowell. Meanwhile, Mike finds himself in a unique position to get evidence against his associates, leading Harris to throw a few threats in his direction. The largely resolved ending still leaves a nagging question or two.
A tale that derives its chills from a moody atmosphere and an unrelenting, unknown antagonist.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-944680-54-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Green Ivy Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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