An often riveting tale that develops its characters as well as it does its steadily paced narrative.
In Kitchen’s debut fantasy/adventure, a supernaturally gifted, elite few become targets for murder.
Crime is a rarity in the land of Austere, thanks largely to the Art of War Law, which prohibits any citizen from bearing arms or forming armies. The law was passed by the 13-member Hierarchy, 12 of whom are Signed—marked at birth with an astrological sign and a special power. Sarai Divens, a Signed, telekinetic Capricorn, challenges the current Hierarchy Capricorn member, Hex; she aims to get justice for her mother’s murder. Meanwhile, Ian Radke, an Unsigned, craves vengeance against the man responsible for his father’s death. The long-standing Scorpio of the Hierarchy, Julius Blackwood, defies the law by secretly recruiting an army of his own to defend against those who would harm Signed people. Sure enough, a group of Unsigned slowly emerges that’s dead-set on eliminating not just Signed Hierarchy members, but all Signed citizens. Potential obstacles for that group include Cade Henson, who’s looking for his late father’s mysterious research, and Ava, who somehow bears the mark of four Signs instead of the usual one. Readers will find the powers on display to be familiar (Aries people have superior strength; Virgos have a healing capability). But Kitchen excels at molding and interweaving his characters’ individual stories. Ava, for example, is shown to have the potential to be the most formidable citizen in Austere, but she’s also still a teenager who often can’t control her powers. In her initial encounter with Ian, he’s fleeing the consequences of one of his many fights, resulting in an intense meet-cute in which their ensuing romantic feelings happen organically. The author also aptly and subtly incorporates social themes into the narrative, such as discrimination—the ruling Signs, for example, reputedly make up a mere 10 percent of the population. Several unresolved subplots practically guarantee a sequel to come.
An often riveting tale that develops its characters as well as it does its steadily paced narrative.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9992324-0-8
Page Count: 428
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Thoroughbreds and Virginia blue-bloods cavort, commit murder, and fall in love in Roberts's (Hidden Riches, 1994, etc.) latest romantic thriller — this one set in the world of championship horse racing. Rich, sheltered Kelsey Byden is recovering from a recent divorce when she receives a letter from her mother, Naomi, a woman she has believed dead for over 20 years. When Kelsey confronts her genteel English professor father, though, he sheepishly confesses that, no, her mother isn't dead; throughout Kelsey's childhood, she was doing time for the murder of her lover. Kelsey meets with Naomi and not only finds her quite charming, but the owner of Three Willows, one of the most splendid horse farms in Virginia. Kelsey is further intrigued when she meets Gabe Slater, a blue-eyed gambling man who owns a neighboring horse farm; when one of Gabe's horses is mated with Naomi's, nostrils flare, flanks quiver, and the romance is on. Since both Naomi and Gabe have horses entered in the Kentucky Derby, Kelsey is soon swept into the whirlwind of the Triple Crown, in spite of her family's objections to her reconciliation with the notorious Naomi. The rivalry between the two horse farms remains friendly, but other competitors — one of them is Gabe's father, a vicious alcoholic who resents his son's success — prove less scrupulous. Bodies, horse and human, start piling up, just as Kelsey decides to investigate the murky details of her mother's crime. Is it possible she was framed? The ground is thick with no-goods, including haughty patricians, disgruntled grooms, and jockeys with tragic pasts, but despite all the distractions, the identity of the true culprit behind the mayhem — past and present — remains fairly obvious. The plot lopes rather than races to the finish. Gambling metaphors abound, and sexual doings have a distinctly equine tone. But Roberts's style has a fresh, contemporary snap that gets the story past its own worst excesses.
Pub Date: June 13, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-14059-X
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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