Who misses the Cold War? Rookie novelist Jones sure does. This talky, misogynist thriller churns out one spy clichÇ after another while pitting the usual Yankee badasses against a rogues' gallery of recidivist, pre-glasnost curs. With CIA double agent Jack Calumet, you get exactly what's expected from this genre: a jittery antihero who cherishes patriotism but has few qualms about loosening his canon to defy authority. Calumet has scammed the Russians into believing that he's working for them, which makes him the ideal point man, or ``Soldier Boy,'' for Operation Odyssey, an elaborate, feint-and-counter-feint scheme devised by the CIA to spirit a top Russian scientist (also spying for the Americans) out of harm's way. Sneaking around Berlin while consistently frustrating his CIA handlers and surveillance teams with brazen, unorthodox tactics, Calumet eventually contacts the urbanely malevolent Andrei Vartanyan, a Russian superspy (complete with cigarette case) who's itching to blow Calumet's cover. After a lengthy battle of wits, Calumet convinces Vartanyan that he's loyal to the resurrected communist cause—or at least such a mercenary that he couldn't belong to the CIA. This lays the groundwork for an intricate game of deception that will force Calumet to depend on all his resources, from trusted superiors to Belgian forgers and Israeli Mossad freelancers trafficking in weapons. Complications abound, however: Calumet has to wrestle with his affection for an incompetent femme fatale (in one particularly laughable scene, he ``breaks'' her allegiance to Russian military intelligence) and steer clear of European DEA agents who think he's a heroin dealer. This unnecessarily convoluted (and sometimes self-indulgent) debut culminates in a guns-a-blazin' firefight that pairs Calumet with Delta Force commando Rick Rossetti as they pursue Vartanyan and another Russian spymaster through a secret underground arsenal. Insufficient camaraderie, not enough shooting, and an excess of banter.
Pub Date: Feb. 21, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-11895-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1994
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
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
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