A police procedural melds into an illusory journey that’s just as riveting, if not more so.
A Boston detective’s recurring dream of a bound woman begging for help predicts a murderer who targets female victims in this psychological thriller.
The specifics in homicide detective Gavin McLean’s recurrent dream are generally the same. An unknown woman in a dungeonlike room, tied to a meat hook, tells Gavin, “Don’t let him kill me.” But after he and his new partner, Lucinda “Lou” Barnes, catch the case of Eden James, whom someone brutally raped, murdered, and left in a dumpster, the dream changes significantly. This time, the woman says, “You let him kill her,” leading Gavin to surmise Eden was the first target of a potential serial killer. Sadly, more victims follow, and it’s quickly evident that Gavin somehow knows each one. Thinking the murderer’s watching him, he fears for the women in his life, including Lou, his mom, and his baby sister. The detectives’ subsequent discovery of the likely murder room—a torture device–filled chamber akin to Gavin’s dreams—takes the investigation into the world of S&M. A sudden plot turn, however, pushes Gavin (and the story) deep into his psyche, and before long, his waking life and dreams are nearly impossible to distinguish. Although the twist does shift the narrative’s focus, Gavin’s relationships, particularly with Lou, provide a constant. Inevitable romance between the detectives sparks explicit sex scenes bursting with affection, as they’re generous partners. S&M is likewise treated favorably—it’s a therapeutic act and not at all perverse, as some may believe. The novel’s surreal second half (readers may suspect Gavin’s dreaming even if he doesn’t) temporarily sidelines the murder mystery, and suspense consequently wanes. Meanwhile, Zello’s (Romancing Broadway, 2015, etc.) straightforward but confident prose eases readers through further twists that ultimately become a bit predictable. But the ending throws everything, from characters to the serial-killer plot, into a glorious tailspin that offers both resolution and the hint of a sequel.
A police procedural melds into an illusory journey that’s just as riveting, if not more so.Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5334-8355-3
Page Count: 460
Publisher: Bitten Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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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