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A TWINKLE IN THE EYES OF GOD

Name: A TWINKLE IN THE EYES OF GOD
Author: David William Pearce
ISBN: 978-1-68433-413-1

From the Monk Buttman Mystery series , Vol. 2

by David William Pearce ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 9, 2020

A measured but engrossing story overloaded with religious discourse.

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Helping his daughter track down her missing husband, a California man revisits his complicated past in Pearce’s (Where Fools Dare To Tread, 2019) second installment of his thriller series.

Monk Buttman has strained relationships with multiple family members, including his nearly 30-year-old daughter, Rebekah. So he’s surprised when she calls him, concerned about her husband, Farrell. Monk flies to Virginia with his girlfriend, Agnes, and quickly learns that Farrell is gone. Evidently, he wanted to join a mysterious church. The father-and-daughter team learn that a couple of congregation members who had wanted to leave committed suicide. Rebekah questions their deaths and cryptically mentions someone called “the Angel,” who may have scared Farrell into fleeing. Monk’s search for Farrell leads him, Agnes, and Rebekah west through various states. Along the way, Monk encounters some of his estranged family: his religious mother; his commune-running father; and his ex-wife (and Rebekah’s mom), Astral. The trip ultimately prompts scrutiny—primarily from Rebekah—about Monk’s Christian faith, or lack thereof. As the hunt for Farrell continues, it turns dangerous. Ties to a murder-suicide lead to more homicides and threats against Monk, Agnes, and Rebekah. Pearce proficiently manages abundant characters, whose relationships anchor the story. They often argue at length about religion, which has the unfortunate effect of sidelining the storytelling. These recurrent discussions, however, astutely connect Monk’s past with his current task of finding Farrell. The flawed hero earns some points by admitting his mistakes. His disloyalty to Agnes, however, makes him nearly unlikable. There’s not much on the mystery front, and when Monk stumbles upon several bodies, he remains peculiarly blasé. Nevertheless, the thriller conveys a general sense of dread, as readers know from the opening scene, that one character is doomed.

A measured but engrossing story overloaded with religious discourse.

Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-68433-413-1

Page Count: 250

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2020

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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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

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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.