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Toro!

Name: Toro!
Author: Frank C. Schwalbe
ISBN: 978-1500249397

AN ALLIE PARSONS NOVEL

by Frank C. Schwalbe ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 17, 2015

Shines a light on criminal and bureaucratic complexities in an unusual, poignant narrative that would benefit from a more...

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A stripper becomes a med student after suffering a near-fatal attack by the titular Toro, but the past has an odd way of resurfacing.

As a single mother to two, Allie Parsons pays the bills by stripping and blows off steam by taking home handsome strangers. Unfortunately, one of those blue-eyed strangers turns out to be Toro, a serial killer who gouges out Allie’s left eye before she accidentally fatally shoots her son and scares Toro off. Allie’s mother, Bea, who has never approved of her daughter’s lifestyle, attempts to seize custody of Allie’s daughter as soon as she’s out of the hospital. However, Allie rallies after the attack and retains custody of her daughter; eventually, Allie attains a medical degree and a job in the coroner’s office. She thinks Toro has been captured and killed when her supervisor, Dr. Leopold Mann, explains that he worked on the case and successfully identified the body, but then she receives a strange note on her car windshield that uncomfortably reminds her of her attacker. Is Toro still on the loose? More importantly, is the past ever really buried or only paused? Although Schwalbe’s prose has a fair number of clichés—“Despite being bone-tired, she couldn’t sleep”—the plotting is unusual, the character relationships atypical. While the novel lacks the gravitas and nuanced character studies of, say, a James Ellroy novel, the gritty situations and unusual attention to medical details (Schwalbe is a real-life anesthesiologist) help distinguish it from run-of-the-mill thrillers. Allie is a complex woman somewhat hampered by the on-the-nose prose she’s wrapped in: “Allie, listen to me. I’ve watched you since you were old enough to toddle around the nursery. You’re one of the most intelligent and kindest people I’ve ever seen. Your mother told me you scored in the genius range on those IQ tests.” Still, her unusual life story and responses to challenging situations make her a noteworthy, fully fleshed-out heroine who, despite the difficulties, manages to pull off some hard-earned triumphs.

Shines a light on criminal and bureaucratic complexities in an unusual, poignant narrative that would benefit from a more polished style.

Pub Date: April 17, 2015

ISBN: 978-1500249397

Page Count: 484

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: April 1, 2015

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...

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Sisters in and out of love.

Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.