An earnest but often saccharine drama.
In Potter’s historical novel, World War II forever changes the lives of five close friends, one of whom closely guards an explosive secret.
In 1938, Mildred “Sweetie” Stephenson and Bobby Howe are only a couple of years out of high school in Bogalusa, Louisiana. Their friendship takes an unexpected turn when they spontaneously make love; soon, Sweetie finds out that she’s pregnant, and she’s anxious to tell Bobby the news. Before she can, however, he reveals that he’s accepted a job in Argentina training pilots in their air force. Crestfallen, she decides not to reveal her pregnancy, and she seduces another of her best friends, Harry Glass, who hails from a prominent, affluent family. Reluctantly, Harry agrees to marry her, and they give birth to a boy they name Tommy. Sweetie maintains her secret, although it becomes increasingly difficult to do so as her child grows up bearing a striking resemblance to his biological father. Later, Bobby and Harry become decorated war heroes, and when the conflict concludes, Harry ambitiously pursues a career in politics. Meanwhile, their friend and former classmate Paul Browning is deployed by the Army to the Philippines and captured by Japanese soldiers, which traumatizes his loving wife, Vonciel, who was his high school sweetheart. In this highly sentimental novel, Potter ably chronicles his characters’ entangled lives. Along the way, he sensitively captures the ways in which events of grand historical significance have transformative effects on individual people. The book aggressively attempts to tug at the reader’s heartstrings, however, which can feel cloying. Potter’s prose sometimes feels feverishly overwritten: “In the shifting sands of fate, Sweetie’s heart echoed the ebb and flow of hope, a tempest of emotions amid the news that lingered between life and loss.” Such moments of purple prose detract from the story’s greater ambitions.
An earnest but often saccharine drama.Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2023
ISBN: 9798871974902
Page Count: 318
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
"Don't go into the woods" takes on unsettling new meaning in Moore's blend of domestic drama and crime novel.
Many years after her older brother, Bear, went missing, Barbara Van Laar vanishes from the same sleepaway camp he did, leading to dark, bitter truths about her wealthy family.
One morning in 1975 at Camp Emerson—an Adirondacks summer camp owned by her family—it's discovered that 13-year-old Barbara isn't in her bed. A problem case whose unhappily married parents disdain her goth appearance and "stormy" temperament, Barbara is secretly known by one bunkmate to have slipped out every night after bedtime. But no one has a clue where's she permanently disappeared to, firing speculation that she was taken by a local serial killer known as Slitter. As Jacob Sluiter, he was convicted of 11 murders in the 1960s and recently broke out of prison. He's the one, people say, who should have been prosecuted for Bear's abduction, not a gardener who was framed. Leave it to the young and unproven assistant investigator, Judy Luptack, to press forward in uncovering the truth, unswayed by her bullying father and male colleagues who question whether women are "cut out for this work." An unsavory group portrait of the Van Laars emerges in which the children's father cruelly abuses their submissive mother, who is so traumatized by the loss of Bear—and the possible role she played in it—that she has no love left for her daughter. Picking up on the themes of families in search of themselves she explored in Long Bright River (2020), Moore draws sympathy to characters who have been subjected to spousal, parental, psychological, and physical abuse. As rich in background detail and secondary mysteries as it is, this ever-expansive, intricate, emotionally engaging novel never seems overplotted. Every piece falls skillfully into place and every character, major and minor, leaves an imprint.
"Don't go into the woods" takes on unsettling new meaning in Moore's blend of domestic drama and crime novel.Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593418918
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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