A dark, imaginative, and enchanting tale of spirits and unlikely heroes.
A young woman must face her destiny in Quinton’s (The Phoenix Stone: A Dark Beginning, 2019, etc.) horror novel set in 1963 New Orleans.
Teenage Delphine “Del” Larouche was practically raised in an orphanage, but now she’s old enough to strike out on her own. Eager to live a life on her own terms, she finds herself a job and begins to plan her future. But when strange killings with ritual elements that defy logical reasoning start causing widespread fear, Del latches onto the case with intense fascination. What she doesn’t realize is that evil forces of nightmarish proportions are gathering strength. When she makes a startling discovery about her own past, she must make an agonizing decision: give up the life she’s dreamed of—or embrace her fate and an uncertain future. The Big Easy setting is a perfect background for a paranormal novel, and the author does a great job of emphasizing the city’s distinctive features to increase tension; cemeteries, swamps, and dimly lit streets all serve to enhance the plot. Some of the dialogue, however, may cause readers to struggle. In an effort to make the characters sound realistic, the author emphasizes their Louisiana accents, but at times it's distracting and hard to read, as when a local police captain calls private investigator Frank Morgan and asks, “Frang, leesen, I was wond’ren could you run a call fer me?” That said, the idea of a showdown with evil spirits in New Orleans will likely be enough to keep readers interested, and there are plenty of intriguing side characters who add layers of complexity to the story. Witnessing Del’s transformation from timid young woman to confident investigator is immensely satisfying, particularly in the book’s second half. The author also makes his admiration for Edgar Allan Poe apparent with several melancholy poems between chapters—a nice touch for fans of classic literary horror.
A dark, imaginative, and enchanting tale of spirits and unlikely heroes.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73277-233-5
Page Count: 398
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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