An eventful narrative that’s hampered by lackluster humor and a disorganized plot.
Terminiello’s comic novel, set during a whirlwind sea voyage, offers a satirical look at the chaos and unrest of revolution.
This fast-paced, action-packed story uses Trip Torrent, the public relations director of the titular Climax of Dreams cruise liner, as its central character. He lives in New York City, an uncertain number of years in the future, and he describes the place as having “become the Crossroads of the World” in its vast diversity—as if it hadn’t already been so for more than a century. He also makes a point of referring to the people living there as “never-ending immigrant hordes.” Upon his arrival at work, readers learn that the owners have donated the Climax of Dreams to a group of refugees; shortly afterward, the ship is hijacked by an armed group led by the eccentric Simón Bolívar Francisco de Miranda Bernardo O’Higgins, who seeks to lead an uncertain revolution. From this point forward, the U.S. government gets involved in an attempt to rescue the refugee inhabitants of the craft—who have now become hostages—as well as defuse what’s become a volatile situation aboard the ship. But bonds form between Torrent and the revolutionaries, a media storm ensues, and, eventually, it becomes clear that not everyone’s goals are what they seemed to be at the start. Terminiello’s novel is fast moving and full of incident. But although the book is purportedly a comedy, it features many moments of intended humor that simply don’t land; the humor often uses sensitive issues as punchlines or relies on tired stereotypes (such as calling the New York mayor’s political party the “Democratic-Socialist-Neo-Nonsexualist Vegans”), while lacking in nuance or clever wordplay. These jokes often involve exaggeratedly elaborate descriptions, which makes the already highly eventful story difficult to follow. The narrative’s sequence of events feels somewhat aimless and lacking in either momentum or direction.
An eventful narrative that’s hampered by lackluster humor and a disorganized plot.Pub Date: June 18, 2024
ISBN: 9798888243510
Page Count: 180
Publisher: Koehler Books
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.
A medical student is assigned an overnight shift to observe a Long Island hospital’s psychiatric ward and help with emergencies. You’d never guess what happens next.
Amy Brenner isn’t even interested in psychiatry, the one medical specialty she’s never considered for her own career. Nor is she interested any more in Cameron Berger, the classmate who ended their relationship so that he could spend more time studying, and she’s not pleased to learn that he’s switched his rotation with another student so he can spend some of the next 13 hours persuading Amy to rekindle their romance. Predictably, Cam will be the least of Amy’s troubles. Apart from Dr. Richard Beck and nurse Ramona Dutton, everyone else on Ward D is much more dangerous, from elderly Mary Cummings, whose knitting needles aren’t plastic but sharpened steel, to William Schoenfeld, who’s stopped taking the medications that were supposed to silence the voices telling him to kill people, to Damon Sawyer, who’s confined in Seclusion One and can’t possibly escape, unless a power outage neutralizes the locks. Most threatening of all is Jade Carpenter, whose close friendship with Amy ended eight years ago when Amy turned her in for what ended up being only one of a whole series of thrill crimes. McFadden measures out the complications, revelations, and betrayals with such an expert hand that readers anxiously trying to figure out whom Amy can trust as her goal shifts from ticking off a toilsome requirement to surviving the night may well end up wondering whom they can trust themselves. And isn’t provoking that kind of paranoia what medical thrillers are all about?
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227271
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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