A gratifying page-turner that’s perfect for a summer read.
A friendship is tested when a chance encounter results in death and an unexpected conspiracy in Shae’s (Restless Secrets, 2017) thriller.
Regan Quinn and Nikolas “Niko” Mararious have been close ever since they were kids. They grew up together in a Greek orphanage, so they have a unique bond that’s helped them through the worst of times. Both are accomplished sailors, but after years of grueling work, they’re ready for a change. When Regan comes to Niko with some exciting news, it seems like things are looking up: A lucky bargain allowed Regan to buy an old marina and restaurant in Ireland, and he asks Niko to be his business partner. Niko’s initial elation is quickly overshadowed by a dark secret that he’s reluctant to share, even with his close friend, involving a criminal past. To make matters worse, the pair find themselves involved in a murder after a confrontation turns deadly. Knowing their lives are at risk, they make plans to leave for Ireland, confident they’ll be safe at last. But little do they know that Liam O’Hare, the sinister captain of the infamous ship the Autumn Wind and Niko’s former boss, will stop at nothing to derail their plans. Shae describes the ruggedness of sea life in startling detail, and the sense of dread surrounding the activities aboard the titular boat heightens the sense of anxiety: “He did not speak of what went on aboard the ship; no one did, because the crew was made up of desperate men who were safer on the Autumn Wind than anywhere else.” There are a few side plots that add other intriguing elements, such as a budding romance between Regan and Loren Lombardi, an Italian crime reporter. Mistaken identities, revenge, and betrayal all have a part to play, and the exotic locales only add to the intoxicating atmosphere of intrigue. The contrast in characterization between Niko and Regan is strikingly complex, and their opposite personalities generate tension and exhilaration. Several other side characters keep things lively and amusing, and the addition of an organized crime element gives the story a satisfying edge.
A gratifying page-turner that’s perfect for a summer read.Pub Date: May 31, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5255-3314-3
Page Count: 390
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
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
Britisher Swift's sixth novel (Ever After, 1992 etc.) and fourth to appear here is a slow-to-start but then captivating tale of English working-class families in the four decades following WW II. When Jack Dodds dies suddenly of cancer after years of running a butcher shop in London, he leaves a strange request—namely, that his ashes be scattered off Margate pier into the sea. And who could better be suited to fulfill this wish than his three oldest drinking buddies—insurance man Ray, vegetable seller Lenny, and undertaker Vic, all of whom, like Jack himself, fought also as soldiers or sailors in the long-ago world war. Swift's narrative start, with its potential for the melodramatic, is developed instead with an economy, heart, and eye that release (through the characters' own voices, one after another) the story's humanity and depth instead of its schmaltz. The jokes may be weak and self- conscious when the three old friends meet at their local pub in the company of the urn holding Jack's ashes; but once the group gets on the road, in an expensive car driven by Jack's adoptive son, Vince, the story starts gradually to move forward, cohere, and deepen. The reader learns in time why it is that no wife comes along, why three marriages out of three broke apart, and why Vince always hated his stepfather Jack and still does—or so he thinks. There will be stories of innocent youth, suffering wives, early loves, lost daughters, secret affairs, and old antagonisms—including a fistfight over the dead on an English hilltop, and a strewing of Jack's ashes into roiling seawaves that will draw up feelings perhaps unexpectedly strong. Without affectation, Swift listens closely to the lives that are his subject and creates a songbook of voices part lyric, part epic, part working-class social realism—with, in all, the ring to it of the honest, human, and true.
Pub Date: April 5, 1996
ISBN: 0-679-41224-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1996
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