by Kelly Durham ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 30, 2014
An admirable addition to World War II fiction that highlights the contributions of heavy-bombing crews.
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This incisive World War II novel skillfully brings readers along on nerve-wracking bombing runs in German-held territory.
More importantly, Durham’s (Wade’s War, 2013, etc.) fourth WWII–based book introduces the men behind such daring raids—and the war’s effect on them. Based in Bassingbourn, England, the B-17 crews in the 91st Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force voluntarily fly into unknown, frequently terrifying situations to deliver their payloads and then pray they make it back to base. Lt. Bob Foster is the pilot of one such 10-member crew, until he suddenly isn’t any longer. That’s because, in a public-relations maneuver, Lt. Harmon Roberts III, son of a key U.S. senator, is appointed the pilot of Foster’s crew, with Foster reluctantly becoming the co-pilot. Naturally, Foster isn’t too thrilled with this development: “He’d stolen my crew, my airplane and now, my medal….I was getting the short end of the stick on this deal and I was sore about it.” Eventually, Foster comes around in his opinion of Roberts, which is the key to the narrative of this novel, as the pair will have to work together well to survive in the daunting months and years that follow. In his author’s note, Durham explains his motivation for writing: “I…have worked to present an accurate if fictional look at the conditions in which the brave crews flew and fought.” He’s met his goal; the research fueled by Durham’s passion shines through in the terrifying battle scenes that he brings alive for readers, successfully capturing the overwhelming attacks such bombers faced. Other than Foster and Roberts, Durham’s characters aren’t as well developed, but that doesn’t detract much from his story. The deliberate pacing of the novel’s action and the development of the friendship between the two main characters also sustain this enjoyable military thriller.
An admirable addition to World War II fiction that highlights the contributions of heavy-bombing crews.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-1502524492
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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
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by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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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