A chaotic, full-throttle parody that’s as smart as it is slimy.
In this sci-fi debut, an alien species hopes to claim Earth, but the invaders haven’t fully researched what goes bump in the night.
At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, astrophysicist Jean-François receives some exciting data in the middle of the night. His theory that an interstellar vessel has been using wormholes to visit Earth for the last 50 years now seems irrefutable. Yet his boss, Raymond Saticoy, wants physical proof of aliens before telling the president. Meanwhile, President Michael Addison greases palms at a fundraiser at the Watergate Hotel. With him are the lovely first lady, Laurel, and his no-nonsense vice president, Peyton Willis. What neither politician realizes, however, is that Laurel slays vampires on the side, doing her best to clear Washington, D.C., of bloodsuckers. Her nemesis is Julius, a nearly 3,000-year-old vamp who tonight has chosen the sweet young Mary to feast upon. They leave a bar in southeast Georgia and stroll toward the Heartsoot Creek Cemetery. When he finally pops his fangs into her neck, her true form of a “bug-eyed, insect-like creature” stands revealed. She escapes through a wormhole, leaving Julius speechless. And what does any of this craziness have to do with AWOL Pvt. Johnny Kester? By the time Johnny witnesses a nearby military base explode, Abugov has readers firmly in the grip of his absurd, satisfying creaturefest. Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer should adore Laurel, and those cringing at the current state of the world may chuckle when Addison says, “I got all these nukes. Such a pity I can’t use them.” As the aliens attack, causing quick, massive casualties, Willis tells the nation, “There are no countries anymore. Just us, and them.” The author maximizes the carnage when alien goop infects people, turning them into the walking dead. Dinosaurs, appearing in only brief interludes except at the finale, prove the ultimate narrative wild card. The most engaging aspect of this gonzo mashup is seeing which characters rise to the occasion and which end up with their “vital digestive organs” yanked free.
A chaotic, full-throttle parody that’s as smart as it is slimy.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-692-58103-2
Page Count: 290
Publisher: J-Stroke Productions
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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