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Reunion

Name: Reunion
Author: David S. Tanz
ISBN: 978-1497443624

by David S. Tanz ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2014

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From the author of A Toast to Justice (2013) comes a novel about a would-be football star bent on revenge against his high school classmates.
The tragedy of Long Island–resident Robert McKay began in 1971 during football practice at Hillside High. His future as a possible all-state athlete vanished when fellow player Eric Halls crushed his ankle during a scrimmage. Now, McKay is a plumber, frequently servicing the properties of some of Long Island’s wealthiest residents. When he hears that his graduating class is holding a 40th-anniversary gathering on Long Island, he decides it’s time for revenge. He tracks Eric Halls to a motor lodge and empties his gun into him at point-blank range. Nassau County detectives Henry Gates and Tina Delray quickly begin investigating what appears to be a crime of passion. McKay, however, isn’t finished. He next targets Maureen, his old sweetheart, who drifted away after his injury. At the gathering, she is surprisingly kind to McKay—but his resolve is set. The plumber enlists the help of buddy Tim Hardman, who knows to keep his mouth shut (or else). Crime novelist Tanz provides rich characterization and back story as his detectives close in on McKay. Gates’ assessment of Halls’ murderer is impressively concise: “[I]t was not a professional....[T]he number of shots fired indicated rage and overkill...it was personal.” Tanz also makes it delightfully easy to root against his killer, writing McKay as a boastful dirtbag. Mentions of “American Pie” and other hits from the early 1970s transport readers; unfortunately, too many references to movies and TV shows burst the narrative bubble. At one point, instead of describing a location, Tanz alludes to the set of Hill Street Blues to paint a scene. The tale eventually comes to an exposition-heavy conclusion, not unlike a television drama itself.
A visceral thriller from an author unafraid to reveal his influences.

Pub Date: March 24, 2014

ISBN: 978-1497443624

Page Count: 194

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: July 11, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
ULTERIOR MOTIVES
by David S. Tanz & Grace Greenberg

- BOOK REVIEW
A SHOT OF BRANDI
by David S. Tanz edited by Teena Pom

- BOOK REVIEW
A Toast to Justice
by David S. Tanz

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...

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Sisters in and out of love.

Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.

Pub Date: May 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-345-45073-6

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003

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.