A dense, theory-packed book that will appeal to lovers of historical conspiracies but may leave mystery buffs cold.
Mysteries, conspiracies, hidden identities, and secret codes abound in this debut thriller, which shuttles readers between the modern day and Tudor England.
Reclusive billionaire Abe recently died after finding an elusive plant-based formula that could cure all the world’s ills. However, his wife and lifelong assistant, Mrs. G., charged with the care of his grandchildren, is more concerned with the book she’s writing, which attempts to prove that the Elizabethan lawyer and philosopher Francis Bacon was in fact the son of Queen Elizabeth I, as well as the author of plays attributed to William Shakespeare. As Mrs. G.’s quest for answers takes her to England, and then to France, Germany, and Hungary, she finds herself drawn to Ethan, a mysterious, handsome priest who seems to share her fascination with history and cryptography. Little does she know that Ethan is more than what he seems, and that Abe’s formula might have global implications. Meanwhile, her story is intertwined with that of the life of Bacon as the novel alternates between past and present, spinning the tale of Bacon’s conception, birth, youth, career, and death. At times, this can be a bit much; at just under 450 pages, the novel packs in as many details—including dates, family histories, physical descriptions of characters, codes, Masonry, Rosicrucianism, Shakespearean quotes, and schools of religion—as it can. This often makes the plot lose momentum, as it gets sidetracked in discussions of the influence of the Masons in Washington, D.C., and the significance of the numbers in certain plays. In the present, Mrs. G. proves herself an engaging heroine. However, her storyline is similarly frustrating, as there doesn’t seem to be much of a mystery to solve; Bacon’s origins are revealed from the very beginning of the story, leaving readers in no doubt as to exactly who he is. Mrs. G.’s research doesn’t reveal anything new, but rather confirms everything that’s laid out in Bacon’s chapters, leaving no grand revelation at the novel’s end.
A dense, theory-packed book that will appeal to lovers of historical conspiracies but may leave mystery buffs cold.Pub Date: June 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9583034-0-8
Page Count: 446
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
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