by Jac Simensen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2014
Should appeal to fans of political intrigue who demand visceral and intellectual gratification.
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In this political thriller, disparate characters act out—whether voluntarily or through trickery—a plot hatched by wealthy and powerful men hoping to turn the tide of history in their favor.
Simensen’s (Black Mamba, 2011, etc.) fourth novel is a slowly simmering examination of power, wealth, manipulation and corruption. It opens with a baffling array of seemingly unconnected characters. They go about their business and multiply with each chapter. Some readers might find Simensen takes this route a tad too long, particularly when some of the already myriad players start using different false identities. However, as the plot leisurely thickens, people and events eventually take their places for a denouement that is both thrilling and thoughtful. The twisting plot involves the attempt by a group of rich Americans to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power: The Americans plan to fund and execute their own terrorist attack on the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudia Arabia. Whether this is done wholly of their own accord or with a nod and wink from the U.S. government is just one of the intriguing questions Simensen raises. The characters, all exquisitely drawn, are one way or another pulled into this intrigue and ultimately forced to accept it, whatever their motivations and philosophies may be. Character development is the author’s strong suit, hence the long buildup; fortunately, the finale’s action grows directly and logically out of each personality, making for a more complex, layered approach than the usual fare. Even names are hauntingly evocative. For instance, Dr. Donner, principal architect of the scheme, along with his National Security Agency–connected firm Donner Systems Corporation, can’t escape association to the snowbound, cannibalistic Donner Party. This is a suspenseful thriller for the thinking man or woman, with action and characters extracted from today’s headlines and a plausible plotline that plays on the emotions and fears of modern life.
Should appeal to fans of political intrigue who demand visceral and intellectual gratification.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Robinne Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 2017
A fascinating, thought-provoking, genre-bending romantic read.
When Solène Marchand takes her 12-year-old daughter to a concert by the hottest boy band on the planet, she doesn't expect to fall in love with one of the singers.
Middle-aged art gallery owner Solène hasn’t dated since her divorce, but when her ex-husband buys their daughter and a group of her friends tickets to Vegas and a backstage concert experience, then backs out at the last minute, she steps in as escort. The five guys in the wildly popular English boy band August Moon appeal to women of all ages, but Hayes, the brains behind the group’s success, flirts with Solène at the concert meet and greet, invites them to a party after the show, then pursues her once she gets back to Los Angeles. He’s only 20 and he’s incredibly famous; his attention is flattering and heady. The two fall into an affair that’s supposed to be light and easy, but before long they can’t ignore their intense emotional attachment. Solène is hesitant to tell her daughter, but when she procrastinates, Isabelle learns about it through an online tabloid, which damages their relationship and leaves Solène open to censure from her ex. Then, once the affair goes viral, she experiences the darker side of Hayes’ fan base. What started out as a jaunty adventure turns into an emotionally fraught journey, and Solène must decide what she’s willing to risk for her happiness and what she won’t risk for her daughter’s. Actress Lee, who appeared in Fifty Shades Darker, debuts with a beautifully written novel that explores sex, love, romance, and fantasy in moving, insightful ways while also examining a woman’s struggle with aging and sexism, with a nod at the tension between celebrity and privacy.
A fascinating, thought-provoking, genre-bending romantic read.Pub Date: June 13, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-12590-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
by Kathy Reichs ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.
Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.
A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice (The Bone Collection, 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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by Kathy Reichs
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by Kathy Reichs
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