A speedily paced actioner that keeps its heroes—and readers—on their toes.
Two FBI agents go undercover to infiltrate a group of domestic terrorists planning an attack on Washington, D.C., in Windsor’s debut thriller.
The California hijacking of a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives truck nearly ruins the undercover FBI operation of agents Harry Harper and Ellen King. The missing ATF vehicle, which was full of weapons, quickly becomes their top priority. Their boss, Jim Morton, gives them an assignment that calls on Ellen’s skills as a “computer wiz,” as a flood of internet bulletin-board posts seems to add up to a call to arms for antigovernment extremists. Then the FBI director is shot, and the deputy director is killed in a bombing. Meanwhile, hacker Jeff Barnett, when he’s not hiding his online activity from his parole officer, is trying to convince a weapons dealer, George Pilkin (aka “the Commander”), to partner with him to help bring the government down. Harry and Ellen, posing as father and daughter, manage to infiltrate the Commander’s group in Lake Tahoe, but rogues in the FBI threaten their investigation by launching an unsuccessful raid without warning. The Commander’s specific target isn’t initially clear, but the code name of the strike, “Torch Day,” suggests something explosive. Harry, however, has a more immediate concern when someone blows his cover. Windsor gets his novel off to a rollicking start as Ellen improvises to help undercover Harry deal with Vietnamese gangsters. The devoted partners’ relationship is always professional, without a hint of romance. There’s also plenty of dialogue, which helps to make the action scenes concise and efficient; the best of them feature Ellen, who can inflict significant damage with a flashlight. The solid, packed plot, in addition to the imminent attack, includes a villain who may recognize one of the undercover agents; a blackmail scheme; and potential trouble from Harry’s ex-boss, who swore vengeance after the agent reported his corruption. A few bad guys, particularly Barnett, are so well-developed that they’re almost as sympathetic as the protagonists.
A speedily paced actioner that keeps its heroes—and readers—on their toes.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9981310-2-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: CT Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
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
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
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