by Don Barr ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 31, 2018
A stylish and distinctive tale full of British con men and supernatural creatures.
A debut urban fantasy novel tells the story of an ethically challenged magician holed up in a resort town in Cornwall.
Fleeing his gambling debts (and the large men attempting to collect them), London magician and ne’er-do-well Alexander Crowley—great-grandson of a famed occultist—flees to the beach town of St Ives to lay low for a while. The profane and casually criminal Alex plans to relax for the summer, using his mesmerizing ability to steal money and services from cabbies and little old ladies. But upon arriving in town, he is immediately contacted by the local (rivalrous) divinities—an ancient Celtic saint named IA and a bar-owning demon called Mr. Bucca Dhu—who make it clear that a low-key vacation is not on the table. “You will not be left alone or at peace in this town without my assistance, Mr Crowley,” IA warns him. “Your presence will be like a magnet for ne’er do wells, both human and other.” As if that isn’t enough, his presence also attracts an unlikely sidekick in the form of the hapless town novelist, Booby de Faux. IA turns out to be right: Alex’s magical gifts—as well as his flexible moral compass—make him a desirable contractor in St Ives, and he is soon facing off with local Mafiosos, medieval ghosts, talking seagulls, ancient kings, and vampires who disguise themselves as cats. Compared to this lot, maybe facing a few debt collectors wasn’t all that bad. Barr’s prose is jocular and laden with slang, more Guy Ritchie than J.K. Rowling: “My old man used to do nights and it made him a right grumpy git. I had considered asking Booby to knock up some curtains for this gaff as I never could sleep during the daytime. Should have been a bloody vampire, now there was a thought!” Formatted as a series of episodes rather than one long narrative, the book has a lovely, leisurely pace that fits perfectly with its romantic setting. Alex himself is a rather unlikable protagonist—he objectifies most women he meets (“Alert and pert, a poor man’s Brigitte Bardot stood behind the counter…The assistant looked better stacked than the shelves”) and is neither as funny nor as suave as the author clearly means for him to be. Yet the story remains largely readable nonetheless.
A stylish and distinctive tale full of British con men and supernatural creatures.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9996556-3-4
Page Count: 310
Publisher: Between the Lines Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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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