Middling for a matchless series (Unseen, 2013, etc.) in which, just as in grand opera, nothing ordinary ever happens.
After two intense stand-alones (Pretty Girls, 2015, etc.), Slaughter brings back the regulars whose personal problems are just as dark, urgent, and potentially violent as those of the criminals they investigate.
In the two weeks since medical examiner Dr. Sara Linton joined her lover, agent Will Trent, on the payroll of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, everything’s been fine, except of course for Will’s uneasy sense that Angie Polaski, the long-estranged wife he just can’t get around to divorcing, will never let him alone. How right he is. A Glock found near the scene of a grisly murder is quickly traced to Angie. Now Amanda Wagner, the GBI deputy director who mercilessly rides Will and his partner, Faith Mitchell, wants to know what Angie had to do with the death of Dale Harding, a thoroughly miserable human being who was a detective with the Atlanta PD. The case is already a minefield: the murder scene, drenched in blood that isn’t Harding’s, is the construction site of the All Star, a nightclub owned by basketball star Marcus Rippy, who’s well-known to Will as the man who raped Keisha Miscavage and, thanks to his feral manager, Kip Kilpatrick, and an army of lawyers, walked away two weeks ago without so much as a summons. The forensic evidence indicates that at least one other person was seriously wounded at the murder scene before vanishing. Forget about indicting Rippy for the crime; Will would be lucky to interview him. Just when it seems that Will’s ties to the case couldn’t become more fraught, Slaughter interrupts the action for a hundred-page flashback to the week before the killing. Things get clearer but no less tense.
Middling for a matchless series (Unseen, 2013, etc.) in which, just as in grand opera, nothing ordinary ever happens.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-243021-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
The real-life events of the War of the Currents are exciting enough without embroidery. Still, readers who care more about...
The great tech innovators of the '90s—that’s the 1890s—posture, plot, and even plan murder in this business book–turned–costume drama.
In the late 19th century, as Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse began wiring America for electricity, the titans locked horns over which electrical standard would prevail—AC or DC—in a struggle that came to be known as the “War of the Currents.” Novelist (The Sherlockian, 2010) and screenwriter (The Imitation Game, 2014) Moore chops up and rearranges a decade’s worth of events, squeezes them into two years, adds a few crimes, and serves the result up in a lively if unsurprising legal thriller. He tells the story from the point of view of Paul Cravath, the young attorney charged with defending Westinghouse against a potentially devastating patent suit brought by Edison. The key to winning, Cravath decides, is to get Nikola Tesla—the mad scientist to end all mad scientists—to invent a better lightbulb. Subtle this isn’t. A devastating lab fire! An inexplicable disappearance! A beautiful diva with a mysterious past! An attempted murder! An electrocuted dog! The characters mug and posture like actors in a silent film with dramatic captions: “She turned her glare to Westinghouse. 'You’re a co-conspirator in this villainy?' " Tesla, a Serbian, talks funny: “My accent is wide. Perhaps you have been noticing.” Eventually, inspired by the innovative business practices of Westinghouse and Edison, Cravath invents the 20th-century law firm and wins the hand of the lady.
The real-life events of the War of the Currents are exciting enough without embroidery. Still, readers who care more about atmosphere than accuracy will enjoy this breezy melodrama.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-812-98890-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
As fast, feisty, and full of personality as its heroine.
A chronic meddler meddles some more in the business and personal lives of friends. No lessons are learned.
Reflecting on her life, Miss Julia Murdoch thinks the time has come for her to set her pride aside, judge less, and learn to live and let live instead of trying to tweak the world around her to become the best version of itself. But like a police officer called back to one last case, Miss Julia’s got a thing or two to do before she gives up her meddling ways—or, as she thinks of it, doing the Lord’s work in everyone’s best interest. First off is helping neighbor Mildred Allen, who has her hands full of her husband Horace’s memory problems, which are a real burden for Mildred, as she likes to remind people. Mildred’s estranged daughter, Tonya, has sent her a young girl whom Tonya apparently adopted and abandoned, a bit like a care package but more like an I-don’t-care package. Mildred generously allows the girl, whom Tonya calls Penelope, to act as a nursemaid to Horace during the times she isn't being watched by Miss Julia and Lillian, her household help. Miss Julia and Lillian are on the verge of getting Penelope to open up when she informs them that her name isn’t Penelope but Alicia. Just imagine! In addition to getting Mildred to bond with the girl, Miss Julia’s also determined to help poor Etta Mae Wiggins, the best certified nursing assistant at the Handy Home Helpers. When Etta Mae finds out that her boss, Lurline Corn, may be ready to clean house and sell the business, she’s beyond worried, but Miss Julia has a plan or five up her sleeve to make sure Etta Mae comes out on top.
As fast, feisty, and full of personality as its heroine.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-56051-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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