A love story that, despite some hiccups, offers a satisfying mix of intrigue and idealistic love.
In Martin’s (Impressions of Innocence, 2003) thriller/romance, a young woman risks all to confront a curse and discover the truth behind her lineage.
Lacey Roberts is in her final year of college at the University of Arizona when she meets a young man named Evanston Brighton, whom she immediately nicknames “Evs.” A few months of whirlwind courtship later, she finds herself engaged to him, even though she’s still grieving over her father’s mysterious murder. When a second tragedy strikes, she’s shocked to learn that her mother may have been somehow involved in her father’s death. Spurred on by her mother’s cryptic remarks, a bizarre poem and an old diary entry, Lacey becomes convinced that the women in her family are all cursed to kill the men they love. She goes in search of her rough-and-tumble mountain relatives in North Carolina, leaving behind her life and fiancee to pursue the truth at all costs. When Evanston and a threatening figure from her mother’s past both decide to come after her, she realizes that her life, and the lives of her newfound family, may be in danger. Lacey is a likable, earnest heroine, if a bit naïve, and Martin’s liberal use of plot twists and misdirection makes for an excellently paced tale. The novel deftly switches between past and present, and even between first- and third-person points of view, without ever becoming confusing. Yet, as with Lacey and Evanston’s relationship, the novel often feels rushed. Lacey jumps from being puzzled by her father’s death to being certain of a demonic curse far too quickly, and the truth surrounding her parentage unfolds in a way that some readers may find unnecessarily disturbing. The novel also relies far too heavily on dialogue for plot exposition. However, the North Carolina mountain setting is compelling, and Martin’s ability to keep readers guessing throughout is certainly laudable.
A love story that, despite some hiccups, offers a satisfying mix of intrigue and idealistic love.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2014
ISBN: 978-1500865825
Page Count: 272
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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