An intriguing novel about a woman developing her stance on women’s rights over the course of America’s history.
In Fox’s (Lincoln’s Hand, 2013, etc.) historical drama, a woman cursed with immortality dedicates her eternal life to ensuring that a female candidate makes it into the White House.
Television producer Eve Skellar prefers not to draw attention to herself. She fears that she’d be the subject of unwanted scrutiny if people knew that she’s 300 years old, courtesy of a witch’s curse in the early 18th century. But after Eve steps in front of a bullet to save a presidential candidate, Gov. Judy Rhodes, all eyes are on her—particularly those of dogged Los Angeles Post reporter Tom Evanger. He’s fascinated by the enigmatic Eve, particularly when he finds that her history prior to her TV work doesn’t seem to exist. When his boss assigns his story on the governor to someone else, he becomes obsessed with uncovering the TV producer’s secret. As he closes in on the truth, Eve, who’s spent centuries watching men belittle women, becomes determined to help Judy win the impending election. Fox’s novel, despite its supernatural element, focuses mainly on Eve’s struggles throughout history. Immortality, in fact, turns out to be just another obstacle for her to overcome in her life; previously, she faced Redcoats coming ashore near her Cape Cod village in 1777 and a plane crash in the 1950s. The overall story remarkably blends real-life historical events with those of Eve’s own life. The Rev. Cotton Mather, for instance, makes an appearance in 1717 to accuse her of bewitching the Zarrago, a sunken ship whose late captain, the reputed pirate Marcus Nash, was the love of Eve’s long life. The steadily paced novel alternates between the present day and various points in the preceding centuries, but it racks up the suspense as it nears its end: Tom’s suspicions grow as Eve continually dodges questions and interview requests, and a Harvard history professor gets dangerously close to locating the Zarrago’s aquatic remains. Readers learn very little about Gov. Rhodes, so it may be hard for them to sympathize when a lobbyist tries to blackmail her for an affair she had a decade ago. However, she ably represents Eve’s ultimate goal. The immortal woman’s steadfastness and stoicism are admirable traits, and she retains them all the way to the wholly satisfying ending.
An intriguing novel about a woman developing her stance on women’s rights over the course of America’s history.Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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