An enjoyable, if ultimately shallow, adventure beneath the sands.
A team of experts attempts to explore a newly discovered pyramid in the Sahara in this debut archaeological thriller.
When a freak storm appears suddenly in Niger, a group of British and American archaeologists examining a newly discovered Saharan tomb is forced to take shelter in the underground complex. After surviving a harrowing night there, the band emerges to discover the storm has blown away the massive sand dunes that surrounded the site—and revealed what had been long buried underneath: “The land dipped away from them into a wide valley. Most of the valley was taken up by a prehistoric city. In the middle of the city, a large pyramid with smooth silver sides stood gleaming in the sun.” As the archaeologists rush to decipher the secrets of the pyramid—a structure that seems to exhibit technological prowess that makes little sense according to their understanding of human history—news of their find reaches a small island in the English Channel. There, a rogue billionaire has assembled an elite, private military force. Led by the no-nonsense James Cavill, the warriors are sent by their employer to launch an investigation of their own. It seems that satellites have picked up a massive energy source emanating from the silver pyramid. Considering that the pyramid has been buried for thousands of years, there is reason to suggest that the source might be sustainable. The only issue—for Cavill and the archaeologists wandering through the newly materialized city—is who else might be searching for the ancient secrets of the Sahara. Arkwright writes in a lean, taut prose that pushes the plot forward at a rapid pace. The premise is compelling, and the reader becomes quickly engrossed in the mysteries contained within the pyramid. While the dialogue is often overly expositional, and the book is ultimately more interested in gunfights than in prehistoric civilizations, fans of the genre should be entertained by this action story set in one of the world’s remotest regions. The author shows no interest in excavating any deep truths, but he proceeds to tell a suitably swashbuckling tale.
An enjoyable, if ultimately shallow, adventure beneath the sands.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9568880-5-1
Page Count: 282
Publisher: North Shield Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2016
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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