by Gene Hull ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2019
A lightweight but fast-paced medical thriller that delivers engaging suspense.
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In Hull’s (The Sun God is a Ham, 2013, etc.) novel, an unemployed writer’s plan to make easy money turns into an unexpectedly deadly pursuit.
Soon after leaving his job waiting tables at a high-end New Haven, Connecticut, restaurant, 28-year-old Jack Bodwell finds that his money troubles distract him from writing fiction, his labor of love. So he hastily decides to participate in a lucrative clinical trial at a mysterious brain-research facility nestled in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts. The trial, run by venerable neurosurgeon Henri Simmons, involves subjecting volunteers to “brainwave therapy”—a procedure that aims to cure Alzheimer’s disease. Upon arriving in quaint Oak Glenn Falls, where the trial facility is located, Jack meets the acting sheriff, Wanda, who expresses concern about the fact that she has yet to see a single volunteer discharged from the program. Jack immediately senses that something’s off, but the of his new surroundings initially distracts him; the facility’s grounds feature rambling flower gardens, and all nurses are formidably attractive. One nurse, Claire Montieri, particularly intrigues him, and the two quickly develop a flirtatious rapport. As his stay progresses, he starts to confide in Claire about his suspicions regarding the doctor’s true intentions—which may involve lethal malpractice. From this point on, the novel picks up speed as Jack, Claire, and other enlightened characters rush to escape the facility and expose the truth. Up to the end, Hull skillfully moves the tense, multipronged plot along at a brisk pace, making for a gratifyingly lively read. That said, the characters lack depth, and emotional tenor of many of their interactions tends toward the melodramatic. However, the author displays what appears to be an appreciable knowledge of complex medical procedures. He also shows expertise in classical music, in which Simmons has a keen interest; Hull has past experience as a professional musician and bandleader.
A lightweight but fast-paced medical thriller that delivers engaging suspense.Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-970153-05-7
Page Count: 294
Publisher: LaMaison Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Gene Hull
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by Gene Hull
by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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
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