Next book

Kingdom Come, CA

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

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

Categories:
Next book

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

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

Categories:
Next book

MAGIC HOUR

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

Categories:
Close Quickview