An offbeat meditation on relationships, replete with quirky characters and a poignant romance at the center of the action.
Tales of love, loss, and regret unfold around a futuristic dinosaur park in this novel.
In 2116, the effects of climate change have drastically altered the planet and advances in technology have led to the development of a remarkable—and extremely popular—theme park. Cretaceous World, located in Dewberry, Oregon, connects visitors with the distant past through genetically engineered dinosaurs living in full-scale reconstructions of their habitats. The sprawling park’s director, Ted Beebe, a microbiologist, and his wife, Becky, a professor of botany, have dedicated their lives to Cretaceous World. At 68, he is satisfied with his marriage and career; however, he finds that he now laments that he and Becky never had children. His blissful life is shattered when she is diagnosed with a virus that causes dementia and later killed by a drunk driver. Bereft, he tries to move on with his life and finds himself attracted to paleontologist Lana Gable. Love is also on the minds of park employees and residents of Dewberry. Sheriff Bob Holmes is concerned that his deputy, Jimmy Watson, is taking his girlfriend for granted. Mystery author Althea Morgan comes to Dewberry seeking information about a murder victim, a Russian tourist, and the relationship that may have led to her death. Ted’s association with Lana leads to new beginnings, but his enduring love for Becky tempers his happiness. The latest from Robertson (The Bricolage of Kotegaeshi, 2007, etc.) uses the wonders of the dinosaur park as a backdrop to explore the idiosyncrasies of love, grief, and newfound connections. The descriptions of Cretaceous World and its formidable inhabitants are vivid and realistic and Robertson displays a wry sense of humor and a panoply of intriguing characters. Most of the action takes place in the theme park and Robertson draws several thought-provoking parallels between the dinosaurs and their human caretakers, especially in the area of reproduction. The genetic tinkering has rendered the reptiles sterile. As Ted explains: “We can’t handle a population increase in our dinosaurs. When one of them dies, we just make a new one.” Ted and Becky remained childless by choice, preferring to focus instead on their careers and the development of the park. Ted was initially content with their decision; however, after 35 years of marriage, he finds himself wishing he had become a father. The tension between childlessness, by choice or design, and the desire for a family is a central theme connecting several primary and secondary characters in the tale. Robertson’s playful and keen sense of humor is another highlight, particularly the teasing banter between Lana and Ted and a popular local restaurant whimsically named Hominid’s Delight. But the book is relatively short and some promising subplots are limited to a few episodes. Althea’s investigation into the Russian tourist’s death yields a tantalizing murder mystery, but it is dropped as quickly as it is introduced.
An offbeat meditation on relationships, replete with quirky characters and a poignant romance at the center of the action.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68114-333-0
Page Count: 130
Publisher: Anaphora Literary Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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