An unconventional mystery that’s smart and unpredictable.
A staff psychologist at a disaster shelter must deal with an imminent hurricane and a murderer among the stir-crazy group in this thriller.
As a Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System volunteer, Dr. Persephone “Seph” Smith becomes deployable when the president deems a disaster large-scale. This includes approaching Hurricane Ignatius, sending the Philadelphia psychologist to a decommissioned Air Force base in Texas. Seph gets the 12-hour night shift and quickly spots a few evacuees who may pose psychiatric concerns, most noticeably homeless veteran and possible paranoid schizophrenic Carol. But it’s not long before someone turns up with multiple stab wounds. Seph offers to help Chief Shane Bishop track down the killer with her “enhanced empathy” that allows her to establish deep, emotional connections to others and determine who’s capable of murder. The body count unfortunately rises and may be tied to signs of erratic behavior Seph witnesses from both evacuees and staff, in particular, paranoia. Outside assistance is hardly an option with Ignatius on its way and cell service down. Seph has no choice but to scrutinize the people in the shelter and decide whether they’re acting bizarrely due to pre-existing conditions or something more widespread. Delozier’s (Type & Cross, 2016) protagonist, in a 2006-set prequel to the author’s preceding novel, is an unusual but enthralling detective. Her curious ability shapes her as a character, with all that empathy responsible for nightmares that have plagued her since childhood. But it doesn’t seem to be much of a tool for sleuthing, at least not in this narrative; the resilient Seph works out what’s happening and formulates a solution using general intuition. Nevertheless, the surprising tale’s isolated setting is intensified by characters butting heads (for example, Bishop versus in-charge Dr. Annie Parrish) and supplemented by references to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (even in names, like Dr. Dodgson). Seph’s shrewdness comes through in vivid and detailed descriptions, as she notes others’ quirks: a fidgety someone swiping “at a lock of frizzy, gray hair sticking to her damp forehead.”
An unconventional mystery that’s smart and unpredictable.Pub Date: June 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-937178-90-1
Page Count: 203
Publisher: WiDo Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 11, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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