A crafty, lightweight mystery anchored by a fearless female sleuth and lively supporting characters.
An economic collapse drives a hedge fund manager to murderous desperation while a police detective races to break the case before the body count rises in this intricately plotted mystery thriller.
When the titular envelope containing a sheet of paper with a bloody handprint and the word “JOSH” scribbled on it arrives in the mail, veteran psychologist Tonya Proctor and her husband Josh, a biomedical engineer, panic. Enter tough, seasoned Memphis police lieutenant Julia Todd, who, together with precinct secretary Teresa Johnson, swiftly pieces together the case. The investigation soon reveals that other medical scientists have received the same chartreuse calling card—before perishing in suspicious “accidents.” Todd’s investigation of a missing scientist pits her against Frederick Durnst, the CEO of BP Tech, who is less than forthcoming with company information. Todd sifts through a variety of leads as more local scientists go missing, Josh receives anonymous warnings and envelopes continue popping up around town. Fingerprints on Josh’s mysterious envelope match those of Carl Huong, a senior scientist at a company developing advanced (and controversial) joint replacement equipment, but Huong ends up murdered. Did he have compromising knowledge or was he just in the killer’s way? Complementing the narrative is a subplot involving Charleze Washington, a former foster child turned obsessive, aggressive financial hedge fund manager who finds herself knee-deep in an insider trading scam. The conventional sleuthing is engaging (though Paavola’s steady introduction of new characters becomes a bit distracting), with dangerous, illegal stock activity; cryptic e-mails; troublemakers; hit men and Josh, whose life remains in danger as everyone around him tries to piece together the clues. Paavola, a practicing Tennessee psychologist, keeps the action coming and his characters consistently interesting, though the conclusion isn’t nearly as satisfying as the search for clues.
A crafty, lightweight mystery anchored by a fearless female sleuth and lively supporting characters.Pub Date: June 11, 2010
ISBN: 978-0579057902
Page Count: 304
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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