Despite some great action sequences, the story, as usual with Chang (Death Money, 2014, etc.), lacks both variety and...
Chang’s fifth novel is a turbo-charged requiem for a blood brotherhood rooted in an impossibly distant past.
Some people are lucky at cards, some lucky in love. Even though he’s waiting for his ladylove, attorney Alexandra Lee-Chow, to make her way through a messy divorce, Detective Jack Yu of the NYPD’s Fifth District is still lucky because none of the many criminals who’ve shot at him have killed him. But he can’t hold a candle to Tat “Lucky” Louie, the blood brother of his youth, who’s just emerged from an 88-day coma brought on by his own shooting. Everyone in Chinatown recognizes that the number 88 is especially lucky, and Jack would like nothing better than to shake Lucky’s hand, congratulate him on his return to life, and endorse his vow to avoid the kind of criminal behavior that brought him to death’s door. Instead, Lucky disappears shortly after Jack helps spirit him out of the hospital. Fueled less by greed than by a lust for face-saving revenge, Lucky gathers a new gang around him and plots a series of high-octane crimes against his old enemies, from Big Uncle Jo, a gang handler from the On Yee Merchants Association, to Woo Sik Kee, a longtime stalwart of the Wo Lok triad. Though Lucky’s improbable survival makes him feel immortal, Jack knows his latest carnival of crime can’t end well; if rival Chinatown gangsters don’t stop him, Jack’s outraged colleagues at the Fifth District will.
Despite some great action sequences, the story, as usual with Chang (Death Money, 2014, etc.), lacks both variety and surprise. What keeps you reading, along with the customary warts-and-all portrait of New York’s Chinatown, is the uncanny strength of the bond between the career cop and his doomed blood brother.Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61695-784-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Soho Crime
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Spooky, witty, and observant, Racculia's novel of friendship and bigger-than-life aspirations is a treasure.
A motley crew of Bostonians seeks an eccentric millionaire's fortune in an epic, citywide treasure hunt that kicks off after his untimely death.
Tuesday Mooney is the best prospect researcher on Boston General Hospital's fundraising team, a "bizarro know-it-all tall girl" with the aura of a grown-up Wednesday Addams. Despite her reputation as a formidable, reclusive "woman in black," Tuesday nurtures a few friendships, albeit at arm’s length. There's Dex Howard, a karaoke-obsessed financier perpetually unlucky in love; Tuesday's neighbor Dorry Bones, a motherless Somerville teen in desperate need of a role model; and Abby Hobbes, a Ouija board–wielding classmate who disappeared during Tuesday's teenage years—and who just so happens to be haunting her in adulthood. When cape-wearing Poe fanatic Vincent Pryce keels over at a hospital charity auction midbid, Tuesday uses all the skills—and hospital databases—at her disposal to win a portion of Pryce's incredible fortune. But will Tuesday's past, and her poor judgment, catch up with her before she can win? And will her partnership with the strange but charming tycoon Nathaniel Arches sink or buoy her chances of success? Racculia (Bellweather Rhapsody, 2014, etc.) returns with a roaring adventure novel that never loses sight of adulthood's woes: Characters lament their school loan balances and worry about selling out in their careers, struggle with intimacy, and occasionally stew in self-loathing. Even as the whimsical treasure hunt picks up its pace on Boston Common and in the tunnels of the T, Racculia ensures that real livelihoods—and lives—are at stake. The result is thrilling, romantic, and charming as all get out, a love letter to former witchy girls and compulsive dreamers that will make readers reassess what—and who—they value.
Spooky, witty, and observant, Racculia's novel of friendship and bigger-than-life aspirations is a treasure.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-358-02393-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Inside this bloated novel is a lean thriller starring a strong and damaged protagonist who's as compelling as Lisbeth...
In Brennan’s (Nothing To Hide, 2019, etc.) new series launch, a hard-edged female LAPD undercover cop and an ambitious FBI special agent race to catch a serial killer before he strikes again.
On paid administrative leave since an incident with a suspect went wrong, a restless Detective Kara Quinn is on an early morning run in her hometown of Liberty Lake, Washington, when she discovers the flayed corpse of a young nurse. In D.C., FBI Special Agent in Charge Mathias Costa is staffing the new Mobile Response Team, designed to cover rural areas underserved by law enforcement, when his boss assigns Matt and analyst Ryder Kim to Liberty Lake. The notorious Triple Killer, who murders three random victims, three days apart, every three years, has returned. With only six days to identify and catch the culprit, and only three days until he kills again, the team is “on a very tight clock.” What should be on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense turns into a slog marred by pedestrian prose (“she heard nothing except birds chirping…”), a convoluted plot slowed down by a focus on dull bureaucratic infighting, and flat character development. The sole exception is the vividly drawn Kara. Smart, angry, defensive, complicated, she fascinates both the reader and Matt ("Kara Quinn was different—and he couldn’t put his finger on why”).
Inside this bloated novel is a lean thriller starring a strong and damaged protagonist who's as compelling as Lisbeth Salander.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7783-0944-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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