by J. Butler Cox ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2015
A book that intriguingly grapples with large topics, although some portions tend to drag.
Cox (Providence of Mercy, 2012, etc.) offers a part sci-fi, part historical novel about the appearance of a strange creature in a small Southern town.
The story begins in the year 2007 with the unearthing of a 1947 time capsule outside of a Methodist church in Virginia. It contains the sorts of items that one might expect (such as old newspapers); it also includes an inordinate number of toy spaceships. The year 1947 may have been the year of an alleged UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico, but surely one toy spaceship would have sufficed. Ole Jimmoson, a local man, was in his teens in 1947, and through his story, readers find out what went on back then. That year, he says, a small, gray visitor came to their town. The being initially appeared in the local Methodist church and was taken in by the Rev. Frank Carson, who had his own problems: his wife was in a coma, and his relationship was deepening with the church’s secretary, Rachel Hooper, whose husband was missing in action in the Pacific. The book jumps between time periods and locations, illuminating a world that was hardly at peace following the end of World War II, with racism rampant in America and a revolution underway in China. The human characters struggle earnestly and sometimes violently, but the creature from beyond steals the show. The gray man, who’s eventually known as “Bobby,” may tend to talk like a robot, but readers will find that he makes valid points about the brotherhood of man. His comments can also be comical at times, as when humans call him a “mirage” and an “illusion,” and he gainsays them with definitions of those words. But, in contrast to Bobby’s clipped speech, the earthlings’ dialogue seems unnecessarily lengthy; for example, readers don’t really need to experience Ole’s speeches concerning the old days and how, in 1947, “electricity was still a fairly new thing for a lot of us.” Indeed, Bobby might have explained such things much more expediently—if he felt the need to do so at all.
A book that intriguingly grapples with large topics, although some portions tend to drag.Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9904127-2-4
Page Count: 338
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Nora Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 1995
Thoroughbreds and Virginia blue-bloods cavort, commit murder, and fall in love in Roberts's (Hidden Riches, 1994, etc.) latest romantic thriller — this one set in the world of championship horse racing. Rich, sheltered Kelsey Byden is recovering from a recent divorce when she receives a letter from her mother, Naomi, a woman she has believed dead for over 20 years. When Kelsey confronts her genteel English professor father, though, he sheepishly confesses that, no, her mother isn't dead; throughout Kelsey's childhood, she was doing time for the murder of her lover. Kelsey meets with Naomi and not only finds her quite charming, but the owner of Three Willows, one of the most splendid horse farms in Virginia. Kelsey is further intrigued when she meets Gabe Slater, a blue-eyed gambling man who owns a neighboring horse farm; when one of Gabe's horses is mated with Naomi's, nostrils flare, flanks quiver, and the romance is on. Since both Naomi and Gabe have horses entered in the Kentucky Derby, Kelsey is soon swept into the whirlwind of the Triple Crown, in spite of her family's objections to her reconciliation with the notorious Naomi. The rivalry between the two horse farms remains friendly, but other competitors — one of them is Gabe's father, a vicious alcoholic who resents his son's success — prove less scrupulous. Bodies, horse and human, start piling up, just as Kelsey decides to investigate the murky details of her mother's crime. Is it possible she was framed? The ground is thick with no-goods, including haughty patricians, disgruntled grooms, and jockeys with tragic pasts, but despite all the distractions, the identity of the true culprit behind the mayhem — past and present — remains fairly obvious. The plot lopes rather than races to the finish. Gambling metaphors abound, and sexual doings have a distinctly equine tone. But Roberts's style has a fresh, contemporary snap that gets the story past its own worst excesses.
Pub Date: June 13, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-14059-X
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2008
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
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