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THE PRICE OF HONOR

Name: THE PRICE OF HONOR
Author: David H. Hackworth
ISBN: 0-385-49164-6

by David H. Hackworth ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 12, 1999

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Sturm und Drang in a debut novel about a military hero’s identity crisis. Despite eight generations of warrior forebearers, Captain Sandy Caine keeps asking himself this central question: Was I meant to be a soldier? His doubt stems mostly from the mystery surrounding the demise of his father. Lieutenant Alex Caine died a coward in Viet Nam, Sandy has always been led to believe. But is it true? His grandfather, the revered Four Star General John Pershing Caine, has never left much room for doubt, and yet doubts persist, nagging at Sandy like a shirked responsibility. Then, while on duty in Somalia, in the aftermath of a firefight, he has a fateful encounter. Actually, two. As a result of the first—with a sergeant who served alongside his father—he receives a tantalizing revisionist report. Lieutenant Caine was steadfast and true, the sergeant maintains, but then is killed before he can say much more. The second encounter is with beautiful, imperturbable Abigail Mancini, a reporter for the Washington Chronicle, indefatigable in pursuit of a story. Until, that is, the advent of Sandy, who stops her presses and activates a trade-off of ambition for love. And since she’s a skilled investigative journalist, who better than Abby to help dig the dirt off long-buried secrets—especially since there has indeed been a cover-up, an astounding one, reaching into the loftiest corridors of power. With Abby at his side, plus several swashbuckling members of his Special Forces team, Sandy goes after the bad guys. Bullets mash, knives slash, blood gushes, and at the end triumphant Sandy, buoyed by self knowledge, has restored the family reputation, raising Caines to their accustomed place of honor. Decorated soldier, memorist, respected critic, Hackworth (Hazardous Duty, 1996, etc.) in his first fling at fiction gets some of it right. But 512 pages is too much military sprawl.

Pub Date: Oct. 12, 1999

ISBN: 0-385-49164-6

Page Count: 512

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
HAZARDOUS DUTY
by David H. Hackworth & Tom Mathews

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMEN
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FOUR WINDS
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GREAT ALONE
by Kristin Hannah

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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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.