by Gerald Seymour ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1995
Another multifaceted gem of a political thriller from Seymour (Condition Black, 1991, etc.), who has a flair for lighting on contemporary hot spots, in this case, the cockpit once known as Yugoslavia. Bill Penn, a former operative of Britain's Security Service now working as a private investigator, is hired by wealthy Mary Braddock to check into the death of her daughter (Dorothy Mowat) in Croatia. A farmer's son who quit MI5 when he realized his lack of a degree precluded advancement, the still bitter Penn arrives in Zagreb resolved to develop only enough information to fill in the blanks left by the Foreign Office's evasive notification. In short order, however, he's impelled to make a proper job of his assignment, in part because Westminster's local representatives warn him off. Doggedly pursuing all available leads, he learns that Dorrie came into the country with a young Croat she'd met in Australia. Both were cruelly killed and buried in a mass grave after the young man's village was overrun by neighboring Serbs in 1991. Having identified Dorrie's killer (militia chieftain Milan Stankovi) and documented the massacre, Penn is captured on his way out of the Serbian town. Although badly beaten, he escapes and faxes his provisional findings to Mrs. Braddock. By now, Penn's inquiries have alarmed expedient diplomats who are determined to suppress any proof of war crimes, which could disrupt the truce they're brokering between the vicious brutes who lead both sides. Penn's client nonetheless induces him to go back behind the lines and bring Stankovic to book if not justice. In search of personal as well as professional redemption, Penn again treks into the heart of danger and, against the odds, achieves a victory of sorts. An arresting narrative of physical adventure, geopolitical intrigue, and moral ambiguity in a savagely tribal world where ancient enmities have swamped the rule of law.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-06-100968-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1995
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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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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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