Utterly disposable thriller unredeemed by its ecological message. One part Michael Crichton's science and a smidgen of Carl...
In this first novel, dinosaurs stalk Florida's longleaf savanna—and they know about us.
When the Disney-like Berg Brothers build a gated community on the last of the Florida savanna, they run into more than even their hokey creative team could have imagined. Billionaire Vance Holcomb has already set up shop in the tall grass, and hired beautiful, amazonian Kate Kwitney, among others, ostensibly to research the surviving rare fauna, which includes the endangered Florida panther. Ultraconservative retired U.S. Marine Colonel Winston Grisham sees the open space as the last bit of free country (and great cattle land, too). And Ron Riggs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife warden and part Seminole, has been assigned the job of keeping the peace—or at least finding out what local predator is eating the new development's pets. Little do they know that an intelligent herd of giant ground-dwelling "terror birds," essentially the last surviving dinosaur-bird missing links, have made the area their home, too. The Flock, as these fast, fierce meat eaters call themselves, has been aware of Man, as they know humans, for years. The Flock has learned to evade these smaller predators, following the guidance of Egg Father, Egg Mother and the wise old Walks Backwards. But the Berg development and the wild actions of the rogue Flock member Scarlet force a confrontation that will result in death, destruction and a bounty hunt for a creature supposed to be extinct for the last million years. While the action is fast and violent, the stock characters—including a cowardly tabloid newspaper reporter—are as predictable as Scarlet's bloodthirsty attacks. And while the changing perspectives usually keep the pace bouncing along, Walks Backwards’ stilted chapters recall the worst excesses of Hollywood's fake Native Americans—all reverence with no contractions.
Utterly disposable thriller unredeemed by its ecological message. One part Michael Crichton's science and a smidgen of Carl Hiaasen's humor add up to less than either.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7653-2801-4
Page Count: 372
Publisher: Forge
Review Posted Online: Sept. 10, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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