A twisty tale of an ordinary man overcoming treachery.
In Barney’s (Cutter, 2015) sequel novel, a consultant’s new gig as a parks and recreation director is tarnished by sordid colleagues, betrayal, and deceit.
When Carleton Humphrey, the mayor of (fictional) Columbus, Colorado, uses a parks director’s indiscretion to seize control of the department, a “nonpolitical commission of unpaid citizens” takes action. Its chairman, Hugh Stalter, hopes to recruit a director who isn’t local, so he asks Sandy Williams to take the job; she runs a consulting firm with her husband, Cutter, in Davenport, Iowa. Sandy, however, insists that Cutter is better with people and should take the position, but she still offers to help indirectly. Cutter goes on to make a fine director despite facing resistance from the mayor and from others who are upset that he knows little about parks. To offset waning budgets, Sandy suggests that Columbus host the Jacob Matthew Cup, a winter-sports competition, but Cutter’s idea to use the already existing Riverside Park for the event sets the town, and his life, into a tailspin. It turns out that Columbus’ safety officer, Jean Smith, prior to her death in a car accident, made an audio recording, now missing, of Mayor Humphrey discussing subjects including Riverside Park; meanwhile, regional newspaper reporter Ruth Roberts can’t get anyone to talk about the park, either. Behind it all is a secret that’s potentially devastating—particularly for Cutter, who could end up as a patsy. Despite the mystery surrounding Jean’s death and the missing recording, the novel concentrates mainly on Cutter’s occupational struggle, which involves garnering allies, such as City Council President Hammond “Ham and Eggs” Eggleston, and fairly standard complaints, such as inordinately long staff meetings. But although a chapter-length golf game and ski trip feel like asides, the novel comes together when Cutter faces duplicity from multiple people. There are a few twists, too, including the appearance of a key character, without whom Cutter might not have figured anything out. Cutter isn’t the most appealing protagonist, initially, thanks in part to some awful jokes he makes. But when readers spend time with his extended family—he’s one of eight siblings—he becomes a more invigorating character.
A twisty tale of an ordinary man overcoming treachery.Pub Date: May 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5304-6811-9
Page Count: 254
Publisher: Appalachian Acorn
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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