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Iron Maiden A Novel

Name: Iron Maiden A Novel
Author: Glenn L. Goettel
ISBN: 978-1560027911

by Glenn L. Goettel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 20, 2013

This high-concept novel has a bizarre, unique twist, but it’s not always easy to see through the dense prose.

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In Goettel’s debut novel, a man becomes trapped in his wife’s body.

Young Linda has led a peculiar, sheltered life. Even before she and her husband drink poisoned wine that changes their lives, things aren’t exactly going well for her. She’s bulimic, dislikes her job at a group home, distrusts her husband and seems to be out of time and place, uncomfortable in her own skin. Perhaps that’s why she seems to disappear after drinking the funny wine. The drink kills her husband, but not entirely—though Derrick’s body is dead, he appears to have spiritually taken up residence inside of Linda. This isn’t the classic Freaky Friday type of body swap, since the Derrick who resides inside of Linda seems to maintain some of her ideas and personality, which may be why he has such an impossible time convincing Linda’s mother, Shelley, that he is really Derrick. Shelley, whose passive-aggressive nature has probably contributed to her daughter’s psychological issues, takes Linda/Derrick back to Linda’s childhood home while Linda recovers from the scare that sent her to the hospital and left Derrick dead. The two personalities struggle against one another inside Linda’s body as Linda fights to come back into herself, growing stronger and perhaps more stable through the strange ordeal. The novel, told from an omniscient perspective, employs a stream-of-consciousness style that, much like the personalities inside Linda, can be confusing. In one exchange at the hospital, the point of view shifts from the doctor to Linda/Derrick to Shelley in the space of just a few paragraphs. At other times, the rambling style of thought and speech makes little sense: “New England gentry, old English terms: saw-spins.” Elsewhere, Derrick’s ineptitude can be a bit much at times. It’s hard to believe he has no idea how to do laundry and has never heard of tortellini.

This high-concept novel has a bizarre, unique twist, but it’s not always easy to see through the dense prose.

Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2013

ISBN: 978-1560027911

Page Count: 328

Publisher: University Editions

Review Posted Online: May 10, 2013

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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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.