Soviet neo-Stalinists and a couple of highly placed Americans have one last go at preserving the cold war before democracy ruins everything—in another smart thriller by the author of The Good Spy (1990), etc. Henry Kissinger won't like this one. The ex-academic, former secretary of state, heavy-handed skirt-chaser with the oversized noggin and impenetrable accent is one of the bad guys seizing the final minutes of the Gorbachev reign as the last opportunity to put the deep chill back into international relations before the cold warriors and think-tankers lose their meal tickets forever. The masterminds in this plot to undo the peace wrought by the man they call ``Blotface'' are Politburo members and KGB types who plan to activate Adam Kalugin, a long-buried operative in London, and use him to stir up trouble in the Ukraine. Kalugin is supposed to rouse the little band of Ukrainian expatriates to action and, with technical and financial assistance believed to be from the CIA, return to the homeland to foment unrest, creating an excuse for Moscow to crack down, derailing the peace movement for the rest of the century. But Kalugin, who was tops in his KGB cadet class, is not a complete company man. His paramount goal is not to serve the state but to revenge himself on the KGB officer who drove his sister to suicide. A further destabilizing factor: As a healthy young male, Kalugin is susceptible to the attractions of a lovely, ideologically unattached American in the employ of the mischievous think tank. And then there's the problem of Mr. Pickett, an honest American intelligence officer who shares Kalugin's taste in political scientists and who has picked up the false notes in Kalugin's legend. He threatens to undo all the bad work. Griffiths may have overdrawn the villains, but his young lovers and hopelessly brash Ukrainians are immensely attractive.
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1992
ISBN: 0-88184-797-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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