A drawn-out but gripping thriller bolstered by a romantic triangle that defies expectations.
A woman agrees to take over her estranged, ailing father’s business and learns some deadly secrets in Wheeler’s debut novel.
South African Lin Fletcher lost her foster parents years ago. She also endured a loveless marriage to her hateful, adulterous husband, Geoff, who recently died. Now living in Cape Town, she’s surprised when her biological father, Paul Ansley, wants to see her. He has little time left on Earth, he says, whether or not he opts for heart surgery, and he wants Lin to be the major beneficiary of his vast business empire in Australia. He has stepchildren from his second marriage, but one of them, Felicity, has no interest in the business, and the other, Sean, could wreck the company (“I believe Sean is trying to ruin me financially,” Paul says). It turns out that Paul has been watching Lin for some time, enlisting ex–CIA agent Cameron Michaels, among others, to keep her under surveillance. Cameron becomes Paul’s head of security after someone accesses the company’s “vital documents.” Paul, at his Blue Diamond cattle station in Sydney, has a rather unconventional idea for securing both his company and Blue Diamond: if Lin marries Cole Stretton, an equal shareholder in the property, Paul can transfer his shares to her and keep Sean clear of his empire. Unfortunately, this ignites a fight between Cole and Cameron for Lin’s affections, and Lin’s unsure where her heart lies. Wheeler’s novel begins as a mystery: Geoff is clearly up to something sinister, and readers learn that his death is no accident. But even though it’s evident throughout that Cameron and Paul are hiding something from Lin, the bulk of the novel centers on potential romance. Wheeler depicts these relationships, however, as anything but typical: tenderness, for one, is all but nonexistent, and the men are often rough with Lin; Cole squeezes her wrist while pulling her close, and Cameron “crushed her mouth with a punishing kiss.” Lin isn’t helpless, though; indeed, she proves superior to the male recruits in the security training program. A major threat faces Lin in the more intense final act, and there are also a few surprises as the mystery unravels.
A drawn-out but gripping thriller bolstered by a romantic triangle that defies expectations.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4828-0311-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: PartridgeAfrica
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
BOOK TO SCREEN
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