A bracing start to a new series about naval warfare.
A work of speculative fiction focuses on World War II.
This volume, the first in Weatherly’s (Sheppard of the Argonne, 2014) new Allies and Enemies series, follows in the wake of his previous novel. It’s military fiction with a twist, as he explores what naval warfare would have look like during World War II if the 1922 Five-Power Treaty limiting shipbuilding hadn’t happened. In his author’s note, he explains, “I chose to accelerate some technology development such as ship building, metallurgy, ordinance, and radar, while keeping others such as aircraft close to the actual timelines since that development was not restricted by treaty.” As this tale opens, Capt. Sheppard McCloud is a reluctant national hero after the Allies’ victory in the Battle of Cape Vilan. Instead of celebrating, Sheppard remains haunted by the many sailors who died: “Oceanic swells left no tombstones, no markers for young lives snuffed short at his order.” Although Sheppard enjoys his days with his soul mate and wife, Evelyn, he’s soon temporarily distracted from his nightmares by new orders. He and his Argonne crew must sneak Adm. John Hamblen across the Atlantic to persuade the French navy not to turn over their ships to the Axis. But it’s hard to hide a massive battle cruiser such as the Argonne, and before long, Sheppard is entangled in a conflict that he is unlikely to win with the Italians and Germans. Weatherly has a sterling protagonist in the tormented Sheppard, who is highly skilled as a leader but who tends to dwell on his losses rather than his wins. The author’s detailed descriptions of the battles give the reader a real “you-are-there” feeling. The flip side is that the minutiae he provides can be overwhelming at times. Do readers really need a two-page, step-by-step description of how shells are fired? Still, Weatherly makes it possible to hear the crash of the guns and the rending of steel as a shell hits. Readers don’t have to understand everything the author supplies to realize how much must go right for a ship to survive rather than sink. That’s why his books work.
A bracing start to a new series about naval warfare.Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63393-362-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: Koehler Books
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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