Wooden prose, no thrills.
Scary dreams. Family secrets. Is Callie just nuts—or is she channeling the thoughts of the dead?
Traumatic memories abound: her mother was wrapped up in a straitjacket, taken away by two burly guys in white coats, and dumped in a mental institution. Callie hopes she isn’t schizophrenic, but, gee whiz, those awful nightmares just won’t go away. And she has enough problems getting to sleep, what with being an investigative reporter for the City Courier. But the mysterious death of her ex-boyfriend, Wilty Hale, society man-about-town, unsettles her even more. She’s going to get to the bottom of things. Just who are the gray people who come and go in her troubled mind? And what are they trying to tell her? Could it have something to do with the Hales, who seem to be jinxed? The family holdings include the paper Callie works for, and though the editor-in-chief doesn’t want to sensationalize the weird way the Hales keep dropping dead, it could be a great story. Says he, in pontifical Perry Mason style, “It’s about time somebody confronted that blasted curse head-on!” Callie gulps and takes the assignment. Then a TV appearance by Dr. Guy Hoffman to explain his Mnemonic Project gets everyone thinking. The distinguished scientist says, first, that if generational memory is encoded in genetic material, the public will be immediately informed. Why, even simple scenes of domestic life become vital to our understanding of the human continuum, he adds. How about scenes of . . . murder? Turns out that Callie is channeling the thoughts of the dead—in this case, of her hitherto unknown Hale ancestors, some of whom weren’t very nice at all. So, is Carolyne Hale, Wilty’s ice-queen mother, in cahoots with Hoffman’s colleague, the evil Dr. Merrick? Who stole the serum from the cookie jar? Will Callie be forced to commit suicide—or forget everything she ever knew?
Wooden prose, no thrills.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-312-27557-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2003
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
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