Unique, if sometimes slow moving.
A middle-grade fantasy/mystery with gothic overtones by debut author Kieson.
Eccentric Alexander Hickory, in the unusual habit of faking his death, finally succumbs in 1849, leaving a will as peculiar as he was. Rather than bequeathing his impressive estate to his toddler son and namesake, Hickory established a lease agreement allowing tenants of his mansion to search the home for treasure he hid–as long as they follow his rules. Fifty-one years later, his young son is dead and his orphaned 12-year-old daughter–named Alexander Hickory as well–is a servant in the Hickory estate. Assisted by young Henry, another orphaned servant, Alex tries to solve the elaborate scavenger hunt her manipulative grandfather designed. Conniving and vicious fellow employees, most descended from the original Hickory’s servants, impede Alex and Henry’s progress, while the current tenants, Mr. Evans, Miss Chamberlain and Mr. Carol–believing that Alex’s genetic tie to the house’s original owner gives her insight into the mystery–closely monitor her actions. In the Dickensian atmosphere of the Hickory estate, young Alex and Henry suffer frequent abuse from evil housekeeper Mrs. Finley; they don’t know who they can trust and sneak around in the dead of night searching out clues. Young readers will be suitably outraged by the unmitigated evilness–if one-dimensionality–of some characters, but those accustomed to more varied action and interesting settings may find Alexander Hickory less engaging than its competition. Further, it may be too disturbing for younger readers but has themes that are slightly immature for true YA readers. Still, the book is consistently well-written and suspenseful, and any young reader who enjoys a good puzzle will be challenged by the one the batty Mr. Hickory has devised.
Unique, if sometimes slow moving.Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-692-00067-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
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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