Filled with explosions, multiple double crossings and distrust among the characters—all the ingredients for an unyielding...
A wrongfully accused government employee goes on a global trek, exposing clandestine operations and eluding men who circumvent obstacles with violence and murder.
Peter Graser, an analyst for the U.S. State Department, is at a party, keeping an eye on Irina Belakova, a woman who works for Russian intelligence but is being paid by the State Department for information relating to the Iranian ambassador to the U.N., with whom Irina is having an affair. Also in attendance is the assistant secretary for Intelligence and Research, who collapses and dies mere seconds after speaking with Peter. This is just the beginning of an elaborate series of events that ultimately proves to be a frame-up against Peter: an unsanctioned memo sent from his computer, a failed polygraph test and fingerprints connecting him to a murder weapon. Significant plot points accumulate quickly, but the story never feels convoluted. It’s more like a secret slowly being revealed, as details are introduced but not fully explained until later, such as Peter’s family fleeing Iran when he was young, how his family died and Roya, an Iranian woman he’s known since childhood. Peter’s association with Roya only deepens the suspicion against him. Their relationship is a narrative highpoint, their forbidden love and opposing political ideals making them an international Romeo and Juliet. Peter absconds to other countries, going first to London, where he investigates the hazy particulars of his father’s death. Once in the Middle East, Peter unravels a potential uprising, but on a much grander scale than he can anticipate. A steady pace is maintained throughout, and while there are more leisurely moments to piece together the ongoing threads of the story, there are numerous revelations and twists to throw readers back into the story headfirst.
Filled with explosions, multiple double crossings and distrust among the characters—all the ingredients for an unyielding political thriller running full tilt.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-0615547695
Page Count: 376
Publisher: Silent Rivers Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
