A passionate, sometimes-brutal tale of violence begetting violence.
Members of an isolated Alaskan community make a stand against those who seem intent on seizing their land in Hoover’s debut thriller.
Augustin Stark envisioned the Homestead, which he founded, as an escape from modern society—a free community with no internet or phone service and little contact with the larger world. When he spots an unmarked helicopter passing by, it puts him on edge. While trekking to the nearest town, Harkstaff, for supplies, he and fellow Homesteaders find a wrecked SUV and one survivor, Franklin Summerset. He’s a senior vice president at Lockstone Oil who makes an offer to buy the Homestead land, but Stark assures him that it’s not for sale. However, Lockstone’s CEO then uses his Washington, D.C., connections to make a claim of eminent domain, aiming to simply take the land. Stark, a habitually armed former Marine, responds with threats and, later, an explosion only to be arrested later by FBI agents accusing him of domestic terrorism. Stark’s pal Andrew Russo wants to flee, but other Homesteaders, who are predominantly ex-Marines, plan to free Stark from federal confinement. As the feds prepare to raid the Homestead, everyone braces themselves for a bloody conflict; meanwhile, Stark suspects that some of the agents may not actually be with the FBI. Hoover develops tension by shrouding characters in ambivalence: Stark has a secret that isn’t immediately revealed; authorities are untrustworthy; and there’s betrayal lurking at the Homestead that’s unrelated to the main plot. Accordingly, readers may have trouble sympathizing with anyone, but the author wisely doesn’t champion either side. As the mystery plays out, answers gradually come to light, including who may be behind the attack against the Homestead. The action scenes, meanwhile, are more unsettling than exciting: “The sporadic popping of handguns was offset by the methodic boom of a not-too-distant high-powered rifle.” It’s a grim experience, overall, but it’s one that refuses to be disregarded or easily forgotten, particularly given its jaw-dropping ending.
A passionate, sometimes-brutal tale of violence begetting violence.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9994074-7-9
Page Count: 300
Publisher: BlackPit Publishing Group
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
