A satisfying mystery and sympathetic characterization make this author a writer to watch.
A down-at-the-heels journalist returns to his hometown to investigate the murder of an old friend in this debut novel.
Wes Byrne, former reporter, is at the end of his rope. His most important story—the investigation into illegal dumping of toxic waste into a river—resulted in a family’s blaming him for a man’s death; his beloved wife, Jan, succumbed to ovarian cancer; and his grief so informed his recent work at the Providence Sentinel that he’s been sacked from his columnist job for being too depressing. When his friend Stevie Darby is stabbed to death in a bar, Byrne is forced to travel to his hometown for the funeral, where his luck stubbornly refuses to get better. He has no sooner arrived back in East Hastings when his Camry is stolen; he’s reacquainted with a former bully–turned-cop; and a potential liaison with an ex-crush is spoiled by her sudden, violent death. Pretty soon, Byrne is up to his ears in a conspiracy involving a car theft ring and the export of stolen goods, punctuated by a rash of murders that all echo the death of Stevie. And when his former editor Hopkins Brewster “Hoppy” Weatherly demands that he use his talents for the local paper, Byrne begins to wonder whether any story is worth the damaging fallout. If this all sounds too grim to be entertaining, fear not. The prose is fluid and eminently readable, and what could have been a hard-boiled ordeal is given a light, almost irreverent touch. Essick boasts an affectionate eye for the dynamics of male friendship and the vagaries of small-town life. (At one point, Byrne muses about a local diner: “The mention of the Town Crier brought back warm memories of teen-age nights spent languishing in the comfortably upholstered booths and sharing tall tales of sexual exploits.”) This helps mitigate Byrne’s inherent passivity and inertia as a protagonist and those occasional moments when the light touch veers into farce and verges on glib. These minor flaws prevent the novel from being as compelling a read as it could have been. But Essick’s skillful handling of both characterization and the central mystery means that, while the pages may not turn as quickly as they could, it’s still an enjoyable read.
A satisfying mystery and sympathetic characterization make this author a writer to watch.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62694-809-9
Page Count: 380
Publisher: Black Opal Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
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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