In this debut psychological thriller, a reclusive artist opens up to her new neighbors with life-changing consequences.
For her eighth birthday, in 1978, Ruby Wellman asked to visit the pier in Santa Monica, California. After winning prizes and riding the Ferris wheel, the family began driving home only to suffer a horrific car accident. Ruby was badly burned, and her 5-year-old brother, Abe, was killed. Today, the Wellmans barely speak to each other and pretend that Abe never existed. Ruby, now a 40-something painter, blames herself; she lives in the small town of Kingdom Come, enjoying the company of her dog, Tonto, and a few close friends. Content as a loner, Ruby is devastated to learn that a family is about to move in just around the corner into a home once owned by someone she called the Old Man. Yet when Hannah and Mischa McCord arrive—along with their 6-year-old son, Finn—Ruby warms to them. Finn is an introverted child who bonds quickly with Ruby. Soon, however, the boy finds an imaginary friend, the Wizard—who reminds everyone of Hannah’s grandfather, the Old Man. Is it coincidence at play, or does familial energy linger on the property? As Ruby and Finn grow closer, secrets kept by the McCords threaten to unravel their newly formed relationship. In her debut, Strick successfully writes with the confidence of a seasoned author, building an ambient world around Ruby’s love for the outdoors and her wariness of people. Her prose is often striking: “I fall asleep every night to the hoot of the owl in the oak near my window, to the night breezes, the silence of the stars.” Elsewhere, she wonderfully conveys the intensity of the artist at work: “I’m addicted to the zone I enter, when I click off the workings of my nattering mind.” As Ruby and Finn’s bond strengthens (represented through nightmares and surreal paintings), the narrative’s emotional layers grow increasingly complex; characters like Ruby’s mother and best friend, Charlie, achieve beautiful realization. Whether Strick’s final reveal is garish or truly shocking will be up to the reader—but it is executed masterfully.
A clear new voice offering a startling, memorable debut.
Pub Date: May 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-1496036049
Page Count: 352
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
