Confident, clearsighted and poignant.
Harrison’s moving novel follows an introspective teacher and coach.
On the surface, high school science teacher and cross-country running coach Neil Kazenzakis has recovered well from the tragic accident that happened years ago and left his wife in a vegetative state and him to raise their now-teenage son. But high school politics, parenting and caring for his ailing mother-in-law, who lives next door, (not to mention the burden of making sure his two-year relationship with his mother-in-law’s nurse remains a secret) all take their toll on his fragile psychological equilibrium. Harrison’s debut is a slow, thoughtful work driven by Neil’s interactions with others: his students; co-workers; neighbors; his girlfriend, Lauren, who’s starting to lose patience with their state of romantic limbo; and, especially, his son, Chris. Though these circumstances are, in their own right, rife with tension, the novel is a bit exposition-heavy, and it’s well into the story before the plot’s central conflicts—an accusation of inappropriate conduct at school paired with a new and sudden pressure to reveal his relationship with Lauren—are set into motion. That said, Harrison’s characters are compelling, and his prose is lucid; the emails Neil begins sending to a Gmail account he created in his wife’s name, a device Harrison employs throughout, are affecting and often tender. Neil’s vividly detailed life is sure to appeal to fans of emotionally involving fiction, while more cynical readers might be skeptical of Neil’s relentlessly moral conscience and the somewhat one-note representation of Chris’ adolescent angst. Harrison’s characters frequently suffer misfortune and, occasionally, the consequences of their own questionable decisions, but he transforms a story that could easily be somber into a hopeful one, recognizing both the difficulty and importance of letting go and moving on.
Confident, clearsighted and poignant.Pub Date: March 19, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 331
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Review Posted Online: July 9, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.
When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life.
Morgan felt obligated to marry her high school sweetheart, Chris, when she got pregnant with their daughter, Clara. But she secretly got along much better with Chris’ thoughtful best friend, Jonah, who was dating her sister, Jenny. Now her life as a stay-at-home parent has left her feeling empty but not ungrateful for what she has. Jonah and Jenny eventually broke up, but years later they had a one-night stand and Jenny got pregnant with their son, Elijah. Now Jonah is back in town, engaged to Jenny, and working at the local high school as Clara’s teacher. Clara dreams of being an actress and has a crush on Miller, who plans to go to film school, but her father doesn't approve. It doesn’t help that Miller already has a jealous girlfriend who stalks him via text from college. But Clara and Morgan’s home life changes radically when Chris and Jenny are killed in an accident, revealing long-buried secrets and forcing Morgan to reevaluate the life she chose when early motherhood forced her hand. Feeling betrayed by the adults in her life, Clara marches forward, acting both responsible and rebellious as she navigates her teenage years without her father and her aunt, while Jonah and Morgan's relationship evolves in the wake of the accident. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide what’s next.
The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-1642-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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