by Don Flood ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 2013
A tightly written, enjoyable seafaring thriller.
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A terse, fast-paced debut thriller novella in which the lure of an 18th-century shipwreck’s gold brings out the worst in a motley crew.
Police chief Ben Simpson shakes his head when he faces another drowning in the small beach-resort town of Blackpool, Del.—another victim drawn to the siren song of sunken treasure. The H.M.S. Nymph, a British warship carrying a hefty cache of gold coins, has been attracting fortune hunters ever since it sank off the coast in 1733. Seventeen seekers are known to have died so far, and now another has just washed ashore. Locals frequenting the Nymph bar say the namesake wreck is cursed; even an expert on coastal erosion, Dr. Stephen Jackson, saw his reputation hexed when his Discovery Channel expedition turned up nothing but sand. However, when local reporter Amanda McCartney learns that her colleague, Kyle Ferguson, holds the key to Dr. Jackson’s miscalculation, she concocts a plan. Amanda sings her own siren song, using her bewitching sexuality to lure the two men—and Tony, a former diver boyfriend from Miami—to the shipwreck. She isn’t fazed by the fact that her ex-boyfriend and his pal Ike are also drug lords; she sees their ruthlessness as just a variant of her own. Despite the story’s brevity, Flood shines as he infuses each of his distinct characters with flawed, complex personalities: Tony and Ike are thugs, but they have plans for their futures, while the Blackpool contingent mingles their greed with philanthropic dreams. The unlikely crew heads out to the coordinates where they suspect the shipwreck lies. When Tony and Ike bring up what appears to be the treasure, Amanda thinks, “This is as close to heaven as I will ever get”—a telling observation from a siren whose nature is, after all, to lure men to a bad end. Conflict arises soon enough, as the team members argue over whether to announce the find or launder the gold in secret. Homeric sirens were said to live only until a mortal man could hear their song and pass on by, but whether the story remains true to myth—when Kyle literally jumps ship in the night—is for the reader to discover. The book’s epilogue adds an unexpected, wistful note to an otherwise hard-edged plot.
A tightly written, enjoyable seafaring thriller.Pub Date: June 15, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Marti Dumas illustrated by Stephanie Parcus ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 11, 2017
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
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A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Paul Langan Ben Alirez ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2004
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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