A dark, entangled, eerily insinuating first novel concerning the labyrinthine power-politics of the 14th-century Roman Catholic Church, and the intricate knot of conspiracies among clashing clerics and kings. At the center here is the humbly born Cistercian friar (he will become Pope Benedict XII) who grows in authority—as well as in cynical wisdom—as he searches for what will become known as the Shroud of Turin. Brother Jacques Fornier is stunned to be called before the ruthless Bernard de Caen, Inquisitor General for Provence, and, further, to be told that he and the young dispossessed knight, Nicholas de Lirey, will be sent to carry out a secret mission whose failure might mean the total control of the Church by King Philip the Fair of France. Oddly, a lot depends on the secrets of one prisoner—aging Pietro of Ocre, a preceptor of the order of the Temple and descendant of the counts of Ocre. (The now-destroyed Templars had aimed for control of the Church through a puppet pope.) It is some time, plus thickets of dangers undergone, before the goal of the quest—an ``image''—is apparent to Jacques, whose sleuthing leads to Ocre, in Italy. Before Jacques rides off with the''image,'' there will be perilous journeys, during which Jacques and Nicholas enjoy growing mutual respect; audiences with powerful men—from a weak Pope Clement to a terrifying King Philip—whose purposes and plots are mainly hidden; interrogations, hideous tortures and deaths; and, at the close, with the Shroud discovered, the hacking away at each other of King Philip's men, mercenaries, a remnant of Templar knights, and clerics as Jacques rides away with the prize, knowing its falsity. He has real power now, plus a knowledge of human folly. A thorny, intelligent medieval tale of nasty business in the name of religion.
Pub Date: May 23, 1991
ISBN: 0-312-05876-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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