Plenty of fast-paced action that tries to cover too much ground.
An exposed undercover agent awaits rescue and recalls his past in this ambitious cross between a coming-of-age tale and a period thriller.
Gilliam’s debut novel could be described as three-in-one. It opens with undercover narcotics agent Tim Kelly being discovered by Rodolfo Guzman, his longtime surrogate father and the drug kingpin he has agreed to betray. Kelly suffers through merciless torture and blacks out to recollections of his past—of growing up in the 1950s in Port Isabel, Texas, running off to the mean streets of New Orleans and eventually lying his way into the U.S. Coast Guard, where a heinous friendly-fire incident in Vietnam, along with its subsequent whitewash and Kelly’s dishonorable discharge, forever alters the way he sees his world. Kelly is a throwback to the spirit of Horatio Alger, a young man capable of almost anything through sheer gumption. Everything comes naturally to him, his only weakness being his temper, which makes him not the most original protagonist, but still an endearing one. Similarly, Guzman transforms organically from the friendly benevolent figure to the betrayed, cutthroat mobster, and his constant presence, looking out for Kelly and asking nothing in return, greatly complicates Kelly’s decision to turn informant. Other characters are more simplistic—the thug Rucho never changes from the bully that Kelly bests on the playground, Kelly’s love interest is only there to suffer and drive him forward and the brave men who die in the novel’s eponymous tragedy aren’t fleshed out enough to drive home the loss Kelly feels. Gilliam’s knowledge of the technical aspects of military service is obvious, and though it slows the story’s pace, these details will be appreciated by those who enjoy well-researched nautical jargon. The pacing also suffers from the book’s scope—in telling a story about growing up, the military and infiltrating a drug cartel, Gilliam’s tale never slows down long enough to give its most tragic and important moments their proper emotional weight.
Plenty of fast-paced action that tries to cover too much ground.Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2010
ISBN: 978-1609106218
Page Count: 316
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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