A swift, concise, and entertaining procedural with political overtones.
In this debut thriller, a couple of seemingly unrelated homicides in New York may be linked to a planned assassination.
Lt. Mark Stanton’s latest case is the murder of Wall Street billionaire Roger Decater Thornhill. Newell City cops found Thornhill with a bullet in his head, his body in an alley behind a primo apartment building. Mark and fellow detectives Pete McCurdy and Woody Weiss suspect a botched robbery, but later evidence suggests the killer only wanted it to appear as such. But a second murder in the area with the same M.O. is confounding: that of patent lawyer Barbara Frontiori, who has no discernible tie to Thornhill. Adding to the complications is FBI Special Agent Adam Pierce, who informs the detectives of an assassination plot against U.S. Sen. Aaron Ross. Ross has been responsible for legislation cracking down on anti-government, quasi-military assemblies, much like the dubious groups the feds have connected to Thornhill. Mark, et. al., look into the Einstein World Future Group, a London-based organization that fosters world peace, of which Thornhill was a member. While cops continue searching for the common denominator between the murders, the would-be assassin is already in New York, with an objective—and gun—aimed directly at the senator. Glavin’s short novel sets a brisk pace from the beginning, with Mark quickly initiating the investigation. The narrative is largely dialogue, which is appropriate, as the detectives kick around different theories. Such a devotion to the procedural aspect does forgo nuance (Mark’s, Pete’s, and Woody’s personal lives are relatively unknown), but fans of action surely won’t mind. The story likewise precipitates suspense with well-established scenes, including all the particulars of an event (where an assassination may take place) and the killer standing out in the crowd (for readers, at least) with a conspicuous feature. Glavin really only falters with some inconsistencies, namely the organization’s inexplicably alternating name: the Einstein Future World Group, the Einstein Free World, and the Einstein World Peace Group.
A swift, concise, and entertaining procedural with political overtones.Pub Date: May 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4918-0765-1
Page Count: 136
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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
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