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THE FIRST STONE

Name: THE FIRST STONE
Author: John Briley
ISBN: 0-688-15235-X

by John Briley ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1997

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Talky, tear-jerking thriller from screenwriter/novelist Briley (The Traitors, 1969, etc.). Would you believe a blond, blue-eyed Jewish-American beauty who meets, captivates, and weds a Saudi Arabian princeling on orders from Israeli intelligence? That this brainy, worldly young woman remains tucked away in a desert harem for almost two decades before she's called upon to serve the murky cause of her masters in Tel Aviv? That the long-married lady genuinely regrets betraying her handsome husband? Then Briley has a book for you. At the behest of Mossad, Lisa Cooper contrives to run into Le'ith Safadi while both are students at UCLA during the late 1970s. The dashing young MBA candidate (whose given name means young lion) is soon besotted and, against the urgent advice of his US minders, he takes her to wife. While not of the royal house, the Safadis wield considerable influence within the oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Although the unblushing bride eventually wins over the senior members of Le'ith's extended family, she doesn't fool her villainous, ambitious brother-in-law Rashid, who suspects her from the start. Meanwhile, the ever volatile Middle East is convulsed by events ranging from Israel's invasion of Lebanon through the Gulf War. At length, after the Jewish State and the PLO take their first tentative steps toward peace, Lisa is called upon to sell out Le'ith (who's negotiating with his traditional enemies to join forces in an economic development project that could benefit the whole region). One fine day in Cairo, she betrays him, albeit with a heavy heart. Barely escaping the ensuing violence with her own life. Lisa learns (after arriving in Israel) that Le'ith has survived as well. At this point, the in-from-the-cold agent realizes she truly loves her no longer young lion and returns to Saudi Arabia for a dramatically implausible reunion. Danielle Steel meets Robert Ludlum without any particularly gainful result.

Pub Date: July 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-688-15235-X

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1997

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMEN
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FOUR WINDS
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GREAT ALONE
by Kristin Hannah

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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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.