A dense but consistently gripping thriller.
Izquierdo’s debut novel and series launch finds a teen unwittingly entangled in two diverse societies and a whole mess of corruption.
In 1988, Ellis Cattivo comes home from school to find his mother dead from an apparent suicide. His father Julius’ rather bizarre instinct is to run. It transpires that Julius belongs to a secret society that, in a subsequent ritual Ellis unfortunately witnesses, kills the boy’s father. Sadie, a mysterious, high-ranking official in this society, called “Involuntarius,” ropes in Ellis, who has little choice but to join. Involuntarius is a world all its own, following the religion Vehementis, which starkly differs from the Congregatio society and the goddess-worshiping Mirata religion that Ellis has always known. Sadie and others are convinced Ellis has the Aurum Pugio—a solid-gold dagger Julius has likely hidden. As Ellis doesn’t know the secret society’s rules, it’s hardly surprising when he breaks them, as when he invokes an otherworldly being that’s lately been whispering to him. This incites and most assuredly scares Involuntarius officials, whose complex hierarchy Ellis is still figuring out (he knows that he, as an Imperavi, is actually not the lowest ranked). Spadices, a fellow Imperavi who’s enduring uncontrollable visions (seeing through others’ eyes), is drawn to the teenager. She may be able to help Ellis evade enemies, which is an advantage as certain individuals are intent upon seeing him dead. Now if they could just identify who those enemies are—those from within Involuntarius and, quite possibly, Congregatio as well.
Izquierdo’s tale is a learning experience for both Ellis and readers. The opening scene, set in a classroom, elucidates (for readers) Congregatio’s hierarchy and religion. As the story progresses, and Ellis falls deeper into Involuntarius, the teen protagonist is perpetually and understandably confused. This prompts numerous scenes of him questioning rankings and comparing the two societies’ dense histories and creeds. In some instances, the clarification he gets needs further elaboration, as when Spadices explains to him, “The Novem Nostrum plainly means ‘Nine of Us’. Their title is Sanctissimus, and they are nine individuals who control the Congregatio apparatus.” Despite this onslaught of exposition, the author from the start instills an intensity that rarely lets up. (Involuntarius members suffer violent punishments; Ellis himself takes the brunt of a whipping cane.) These scenes (and others depicting sexual assault and characters hacked to pieces) have impact without indulging in gratuitous particulars. The story’s ever-changing structure features various narrative perspectives and flashbacks, some of the latter brought on by Spadices’ visions of both living and dead people. It’s actually very easy to follow, as the story explicitly notes when a memory is beginning and when it ends. Readers will welcome the steady supply of action (Ellis and Spadices evading foes or opting to fight) and effective twists (from a significant character’s early demise to a startling buried secret).
A dense but consistently gripping thriller.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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