A promising attempt to blend crime drama and fantasy that struggles to come together.
An unlikely group of heroes battles for a city in Doney’s debut supernatural thriller.
The city of Alterson is at war with forces both seen and unseen. A brutal gang called the Rivals has flooded the streets with an endless supply of drugs, and the members murder anyone who gets in the way. With friends in high places, the Rivals have nothing to fear, and the city has almost no one willing to stand against the killers. In the midst of a downpour that threatens to inundate the town, Tommy Atkins awakens in an alley with no memory, bleeding from wounds that should be fatal. When they miraculously heal, he flees and searches for answers. Somehow, he’s been granted supernatural abilities; he realizes it’s his duty to take down the Rivals. Unfortunately, the gang is the least of Alterson’s worries. A “possession demon” named Nemon stalks Tommy and plans to use the city as a gateway for more demonic forces. Reminiscent of films such as Batman and The Crow, the novel follows a curious cast of characters—including a downtrodden cop and weary priest—whose lives intersect and lead toward an inevitable showdown of good vs. evil. Doney tries to blend reality and fantasy but is most successful when focusing on the former. Fiona, the drug-addicted girlfriend of gang-banger Shaun, is a dynamic character haunted by the memory of her abusive father and what she’s done to protect herself. Her storyline is the most believable and developed. As for the supernatural, the plot relies too heavily on characters reading endless books and articles about demons and whatnot than actually taking any action. In these sections, the novel seems to drag and wander off on tangents, such as the difference between real and fake vampires, with little impact on the story. In the end, the two distinct plotlines compete with one another; at just over 200 pages, the book doesn’t have enough time to fully blend and develop either one.
A promising attempt to blend crime drama and fantasy that struggles to come together.Pub Date: June 17, 2011
ISBN: 978-1462883394
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2014
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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