A zigzagging mystery with an intuitive, competent protagonist.
A forensic psychologist in the mid-1990s consults on an investigation of the murder of her former intern in Averett’s (Cameron and the Girls, 2013, etc.) thriller.
It’s not the first time that Detective Olive Durant has hired Dr. Carmen Carillo as a consultant. The difference is that, in this case, Carmen knows the murder victim. Cops discovered Dr. Denny Musgrove’s mangled corpse inside the carcass of an eviscerated cow. Carmen had supervised him years before while he was a graduate student, and both doctors eventually had practices in Lamona, Washington. Denny’s last patient was Vincent Berenga, whom Carmen had referred to him and who’s now missing. Carmen knows that Vincent’s capable of such a grisly murder, but as the investigation continues, she’s surprised by a number of things that Denny had been up to, from making house calls for patients to possibly cheating on his wife. Complicating matters is Sturdevant Day, who owns the property where police found Denny’s body and who’s caring for his sickly neighbor, Evangeline (who happens to be Vincent’s mom). Carmen falls for the handsome Sturdevant, but she refuses to allow that to distract her from the case, which soon involves another murder with the same M.O. and a physical threat against Carmen herself. Averett gets his mystery off to a running start, establishing the various character relationships early. Along the way, there are myriad plot turns, not just regarding the investigation, but Carmen’s personal life as well. Readers may find some of the material that Carmen digs into, such as pornography, to be relatively tame, but they give the protagonist opportunities to view the case from a more clinical perspective, which adds credibility to the story. Her narration is rife with questions, effectively indicating the amateur sleuth’s tendency to constantly examine what she’s learned. A significant drawback, however, is the fact that Olive is limited to periodic appearances, as Carmen tends to work alone; as a result, two minor characters’ offensive slights against the detective have less impact, as only Carmen is there to hear them.
A zigzagging mystery with an intuitive, competent protagonist.Pub Date: June 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9989359-0-4
Page Count: 286
Publisher: Wellborn Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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