Man was thrown from paradise to suffer and die, but he took a book with him; now modern-day terrorists and the Vatican are willing to kill to possess it.
Opening with a failed suicide bombing attempt in Jerusalem, the book plunges readers into the fevered mind of the bomber and the social consequences he faces following his failure. The dark underbelly of the antiquities market and the desperate search for a mythological Templar treasure build up the story’s pace. However, Azariah-Kribbs unexpectedly switches gears midway and focuses on the thought processes and relationships of several of the main characters, including two Indian women—one of whom is traditional while the other isn’t—and the man for whom they both have feelings. The book loses momentum as it becomes bogged down by unrequited relationships. The pace picks up again as the puzzle of the mythological book is solved and the solution is posted on the Internet for all to see. As a result, there is no more hunger or thirst, and spells can be spoken to provide for every need. As people unlock the secrets of paradise, they nearly become gods themselves; in fact, they pay to have themselves killed and brought back to life so that they can see where they will spend eternity. No one ever encounters paradise however, just the waiting depths of hell. Despite people’s best efforts to serve each other, their outcome never changes. Only the granddaughter of one of the terrorists learns the deepest secrets of the book, bringing the story full circle. Azariah-Kribbs writes in a clear, unadorned prose that keeps the world he had created accessible, even as it deals in the supernatural. Shifting perspective among several main characters keeps the action fast-paced and the pages turning. Azariah-Kribbs is at his most innovative when focusing on the Kryptografik, the mythical book from paradise; he treats the Kryptografik as a character, and this decision feels fresh and enhances the book’s mystical tone. Readers drawn to religious myth and action/adventure will find much to enjoy here. A rollicking, provocative read that hits a few speed bumps.
Pub Date: July 24, 2011
ISBN: 978-0983401933
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Keith Azariah-Kribbs
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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