An eerie vision of America’s future that deserves more complex characters and restrained prose.
This action-packed novel proves that dystopian thrillers aren’t just for tweens.
It’s the year 2020, two weeks after high-profile billionaire Sherman Gale’s suicide. Seven powerful men gather on Gale’s yacht, supervised by his beautiful, enigmatic daughter, Faith. Through a series of messages recorded by Gale before his demise, they learn that they have all been working with Gale on secret projects that will contribute to what Gale calls “The Plan.” After maneuvering Ralph Osborn, Gale’s preferred candidate for the presidency of the United States, into power, the seven financial, military, media and political leaders will commence Operation Fortress America. American military forces will be withdrawn from stations around the world only to surge through North and South America, lay claim to their land and citizens, and declare Christianity the official religion of the Americas. With the Internet nearly destroyed, a beloved presidential candidate assassinated, and Gale’s security forces—including millions of fanatical Christian Volunteer Corp. volunteers already rampaging across the country—stifling dissent, is there anyone who can stop Gale’s plan? Two renegade law enforcement agents hiding out might be the world’s only hope. Derrick Chu, a swaggering former FBI agent, and Audrey Kunitz, a CIA linguist, struggle to determine how to reboot the Internet, spread the word about Gale’s devious machinations, and prompt the American people to rise up against Gale’s cronies. Creative and current, Andison’s sequel to Death of the Republic (2011) is a quick, well-plotted read. Although the characters are thinly drawn types rather than authentic, quirky people, they do occasionally change allegiances in surprising ways, which keeps the reader interested. Sadly, the dialogue is not as engaging. Andison frequently includes long passages of unrealistic, unnecessary dialogue that slow the action without advancing the plot. And the action sequences are marred by derring-do that is more laughable than impressive. At one point, to get to a seemingly impenetrable building, a character is flung through the air “using only the force of large elastic bands pulled taught with a hand crank,” so that he can scale a wall wearing “a special jumpsuit made from a reflective gold, super friction-resistant fabric.”
An eerie vision of America’s future that deserves more complex characters and restrained prose.Pub Date: June 17, 2012
ISBN: 978-1475263190
Page Count: 332
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.
The loss of her police officer father and the discovery of an abandoned car in a local lake raise chilling questions regarding a young woman’s family history.
When Hazel Sharp returns to her hometown of Mirror Lake, North Carolina, for her father’s memorial, she and the other townspeople are confronted by a challenging double whammy: As they’re grieving the loss of beloved longtime police officer Detective Perry Holt, a disturbing sight appears in the lake, whose waterline is receding because of an ongoing drought—an old, unidentifiable car, which has likely been lurking there for years. Hazel temporarily leaves her Charlotte-based building-renovation business in the capable hands of her partners and reconnects with her brothers, Caden and Gage; her Uncle Roy; her old fling and neighbor, Nico; and her schoolfriend, Jamie, now a mother and married to Caden. Tiny, relentless suspicions rise to the metaphorical surface along with that waterlogged vehicle: There have been a slew of minor break-ins; two people go missing; and then, a second abandoned car is discovered. The novel digs deeper into Hazel’s family history—her father was a widow when he married Hazel’s mother, who later left the family, absconding with money and jewels—and Miranda, a consummate professional when it comes to exposing the small community tensions that naturally arise when people live in close proximity for generations, exposes revelation after twisty revelation: “Everything mattered disproportionately in a small town. Your success, but also your failure. Everyone knows might as well have been our town motto.”
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781668010440
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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