A skillfully written novel with plenty of intrigue, plot twists, and romance.
The need for revenge runs deep in Ingold’s (Square, 2014, etc.) latest mystery/thriller.
Elisa Gilbert, a costume designer for a repertory company, abandons her life in Oregon and heads to her childhood home in San Francisco after she catches her actor husband and his leading lady in flagrante delicto. She moves in with her mother, Ruth Bolcar, a divorced alcoholic who’s proud of her daughter’s decision to leave. Lawrence “Pug” Bolcar, Elisa’s father, is a larger-than-life attorney who enjoys the ladies and a round of poker now and then, and he’s in financial trouble following a massive loss at cards. As Elisa attempts to sort her own life out, Pug tries to avoid paying his debt and becomes entangled in a series of events involving wiretaps, seemingly vengeful Colombians, and a drug-smuggling operation. Behind the scenes stands Harold Manx, a cop who’s never recovered from the loss of his daughter to a cult nearly 10 years ago. He blames Pug, who assisted her legally, for her estrangement and sets in motion a complicated scheme to embarrass and destroy him. Although Elisa has her hands full trying to take care of her mother and deal with a potential new love interest, she gets swept up in Pug’s troubles as well. Ingold’s book has all the makings of a film noir, with plenty of booze and cigarettes, but it has a neater (and happier) ending than most stories of that genre. Most of the characters show a layer of desperation; they’re all dealing with their own troubles while unknowingly caught in the same web. Ingold’s narrative is laid out like a movie or stage play, and its shifts from scene to scene are effortless. He maintains the easy flow of each character’s separate plotline until they all tie neatly together. Glimpses of everyday life, such as Harold and his wife doing dishes or Elisa standing alone on her balcony at night, provide welcome breaks from the complicated yet compelling sting operation involving Pug and Harold. The relationship between Elisa and her handsome new man is an enjoyable addition to the mystery.
A skillfully written novel with plenty of intrigue, plot twists, and romance.Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9786-9519-4
Page Count: 376
Publisher: Wolfenden
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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