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Cries in the Wind

From the Wind Series series , Vol. 3

Another well-written mystery featuring murders and secrets in a harsh, haunting landscape.

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In this third volume in a series, a Nebraska attorney with psychic abilities investigates some old murders, putting herself and others in danger.

Megan Docket considers herself a magnet for trouble. Though not yet 30, she’s managed to kick a few hornets’ nests, not to mention she’s “killed three men in three years.” She had good reasons, but the memories disturb her. Four months pregnant and reconciled with her husband, Brian, she’s not planning on more trouble, but newly recovered evidence stirs up the decades-old disappearance of three women and a subsequent house fire. No bodies were ever found, but a man was convicted, who admitted to arson but not murder. Walking the property where the house once stood, Megan hears voices in the wind, a special ability she possesses. Unbearable, agonizing wails of two women tell her that she must investigate and that the third woman didn’t die at the scene. But when Megan looks into several fishy matters, she’s strongly warned to back off—as when her horse is shot and killed. Brian wants her to drop it, but he can’t influence her; that, and other tensions, threaten their marriage. Megan draws on her close network of friends and relatives for support, and though she unravels several lingering mysteries, finding the truth comes at a very high cost. Bruce (Alone in the Wind, 2016, etc.) again offers a tight, nicely observed mystery with thriller and paranormal elements, continuing to develop relationships from the first two novels. She handles Megan and Brian’s marriage problems with great sensitivity to both points of view, and Megan’s bulldog inability to let things go becomes central to the plot, a good tie-in. Bruce also brings in the paranormal aspect with subtlety; Megan’s insights provide her with important clues, but her ability isn’t overmined for plot convenience. The plot, with multiple interrelating characters and events from both now and 20 years ago, can get a little confusing, but Bruce does a fairly good job of keeping the reader oriented.

Another well-written mystery featuring murders and secrets in a harsh, haunting landscape.

Pub Date: July 13, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-57638-522-7

Page Count: 248

Publisher: Merriam Press

Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2016

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A LITTLE LIFE

The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.

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Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.

Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.  

The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.

Pub Date: March 10, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8

Page Count: 720

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015

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JURASSIC PARK

Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990

ISBN: 0394588169

Page Count: 424

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990

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