A dense, riveting tale starring a pair of private detectives who thrive in the murkiest circumstances.
In this thriller, two ex-feds hunt a serial killer with 12 mutilated victims in as many years, all within a small Alaskan town.
Happy with their quiet life together, Elijah Warren and Aurelia Blanc are reluctant to take a case for their old boss, FBI Director Clint Adams. Someone has been killing a person annually for the last 12 years, starting in 1986 in the town of Grizzly. But when the murderer breaks the pattern by killing two people in under a week, a victim’s mother calls Aurelia (her last case with Elijah was a newsworthy event last year). The private investigators leave their Minnesota cabin only for a storm to strand them—and Capt. Riff, the pilot of their plane—in Grizzly. Posing as Census Bureau agents, Elijah and Aurelia question residents, who seem generally indifferent. As the storm intensifies, the murders continue, and the PIs ultimately dig into Grizzly’s tangled history, which includes a violent individual who had inexplicably vanished more than a decade ago. Elijah speculates on the killer’s identity but will soon have to narrow down his choices once the murderer contacts him, implying that he has a captive who could become the next victim. Cady’s (A Solitary Awakening, 2016) bracing sequel centers on a realistically imprecise investigation. Theories, for example, keep changing as the private eyes gather more information. Likewise, at least one character points out their rather flimsy cover (would the Census Bureau really be interested in a town of fewer than 100 inhabitants?). Parts of the narrative are grim, though none more so than an unflinching eye on one of the killer’s assaults: “Blood ejected and splashed the dark.” Intriguing perspectives from various townspeople (or neighbors, such as medical examiner Kendrik Montrose of nearby Seward) don’t make determining the culprit any easier. It all leads to a labyrinthine final act rife with exposition and confession. Thankfully, the explanation, while convoluted, stays within the realm of logic and manages a few more unnerving moments.
A dense, riveting tale starring a pair of private detectives who thrive in the murkiest circumstances.Pub Date: July 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4834-7101-3
Page Count: 346
Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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