THE KATZENSTEIN KIDS AND THE EYE OF HORUS

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THE KATZENSTEIN KIDS AND THE EYE OF HORUS

Name: THE KATZENSTEIN KIDS AND THE EYE OF HORUS
Author: A.G. Sullivan
ISBN: 978-1-73424-431-1

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From the Katzenstein Kids series

by A.G. Sullivan ; illustrated by Michael Gregory Suarez ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 24, 2019

A likable, if unevenly executed, coming-of-age story that sets grim history against carefree childhood days.

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Sullivan’s debut novel tells the story of four school friends’ summer adventure investigating a long-buried mystery.

In 1942, Nazi soldiers on patrol in Egypt uncover what they call a “Red Ruby”—code for an artifact of supernatural power—which officers commandeer. They task their prisoner, a Jewish comic-book artist named Herman Katzenstein—who studied under an Egyptologist—with translating the object’s hieroglyphs. If he can do so, his life will be spared and he’ll be reunited with his daughter. Fast-forward to 1979, and 13-year-old Will McMurphy and his best friends, Isaac and Dez, are gearing up for a summer of idling. All three boys have troubles at home, but in their treehouse, they’re able to relax, read comics, and listen to music. Their holidays take an adventurous turn when 13-year-old Amy Howard joins their group and they come into possession of a comic book from 1939—written by Katzenstein. But soon, the four friends find that a scary Russian woman in a black Mercedes is following them. What dangerous secrets does the comic book hold? And what happened to Katzenstein and his daughter? Sullivan writes in a workmanlike, unpolished manner, describing events in a fashion that feels more like a movie than a novel. This, combined with the book’s lengthy historical opening, makes for a slow beginning. After Will and his friends enter the story, though, the text comes alive, as the teens bring urgency and a bubbling liveliness to the proceedings; the appealing tone feels like a cross between Enid Blyton’s work and Stranger Things. With Amy’s inclusion, the others behave in a more mature manner. Ultimately, various narrative elements tie together to make the Katzenstein Kids’ first adventure a page-turner. (A smattering of black-and-white illustrations by debut artist Suarez add texture, but they’re too infrequent to do the book justice.)

A likable, if unevenly executed, coming-of-age story that sets grim history against carefree childhood days.

Pub Date: Nov. 24, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-73424-431-1

Page Count: 296

Publisher: Self

Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2020

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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'SALEM'S LOT

by Stephen King ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 1975

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A super-exorcism that leaves the taste of somebody else's blood in your mouth and what a bad taste it is. King presents us with the riddle of a small Maine town that has been deserted overnight. Where did all the down-Easters go? Matter of fact, they're still there but they only get up at sundown. . . for a warm drink. . . .Ben Mears, a novelist, returns to Salem's Lot (pop. 1319), the hometown he hasn't seen since he was four years old, where he falls for a young painter who admires his books (what happens to her shouldn't happen to a Martian). Odd things are manifested. Someone rents the ghastly old Marsten mansion, closed since a horrible double murder-suicide in 1939; a dog is found impaled on a spiked fence; a healthy boy dies of anemia in one week and his brother vanishes. Ben displays tremendous calm considering that you're left to face a corpse that sits up after an autopsy and sinks its fangs into the coroner's neck. . . . Vampirism, necrophilia, et dreadful alia rather overplayed by the author of Carrie (1974).

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 1975

ISBN: 0385007515

Page Count: 458

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1975

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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PET SEMATARY

by Stephen King ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 1983

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This novel began as a reworking of W.W. Jacobs' horror classic "The Monkey's Paw"—a short story about the dreadful outcome when a father wishes for his dead son's resurrection. And King's 400-page version reads, in fact, like a monstrously padded short story, moving so slowly that every plot-turn becomes lumberingly predictable. Still, readers with a taste for the morbid and ghoulish will find unlimited dark, mortality-obsessed atmosphere here—as Dr. Louis Creed arrives in Maine with wife Rachel and their two little kids Ellie and Gage, moving into a semi-rural house not far from the "Pet Sematary": a spot in the woods where local kids have been burying their pets for decades. Louis, 35, finds a great new friend/father-figure in elderly neighbor Jud Crandall; he begins work as director of the local university health-services. But Louis is oppressed by thoughts of death—especially after a dying student whispers something about the pet cemetery, then reappears in a dream (but is it a dream) to lead Louis into those woods during the middle of the night. What is the secret of the Pet Sematary? Well, eventually old Jud gives Louis a lecture/tour of the Pet Sematary's "annex"—an old Micmac burying ground where pets have been buried. . .and then reappeared alive! So, when little Ellie's beloved cat Church is run over (while Ellie's visiting grandfolks), Louis and Jud bury it in the annex—resulting in a faintly nasty resurrection: Church reappears, now with a foul smell and a creepy demeanor. But: what would happen if a human corpse were buried there? That's the question when Louis' little son Gage is promptly killed in an accident. Will grieving father Louis dig up his son's body from the normal graveyard and replant it in the Pet Sematary? What about the stories of a previous similar attempt—when dead Timmy Baterman was "transformed into some sort of all-knowing daemon?" Will Gage return to the living—but as "a thing of evil?" He will indeed, spouting obscenities and committing murder. . .before Louis must eliminate this child-demon he has unleashed. Filled out with overdone family melodrama (the feud between Louis and his father-in-law) and repetitious inner monologues: a broody horror tale that's strong on dark, depressing chills, weak on suspense or surprise—and not likely to please the fans of King's zestier, livelier terror-thons.