An engaging exploration of love and faith anchored by dynamic lead characters and briskly paced storylines.
A respected minister and Old Testament scholar examines his troubled marriage and his faith while investigating a potentially groundbreaking discovery in Logan’s (Chihuahua, 2016, etc.) latest novel.
The peace and quiet of a routine flight from Tel Aviv to Luton, England, is shattered by a man calling out “Kill her!” The flight crew locates the source of the disturbance, a minister named Dave Jackson. Believing his outburst was the result of something he ate, he apologizes to the crew. Dave’s life and career are in crisis. His teaching career is stalled, and his relationship with his wife, Colette, is faltering. After catching her in an adulterous embrace with a visiting lecturer, Dave accepted an offer to travel to Israel to translate a recently discovered Dead Sea Scroll. The scroll tells the story of Mary, a widow and mother of five who’s bravely facing the siege of Masada. Mary’s record comprises daily life in Masada; she also recounts the love story of Hosea, told through the point of view of his sister. As Dave begins his journey home, he reflects on his problematic childhood, his disintegrating marriage, and his faith, framing his struggles in the context of the scroll and its message. Logan’s sprawling narrative deftly juggles multiple plotlines and points of view without losing sight of the central story. The heart of the novel is Dave’s return to England from Israel, a trip filled with reading, reflection, and decisions on how to proceed with his marriage and career. Extended flashbacks reveal his difficult upbringing in Brooklyn and the meaning and direction religion brought to his life. Interwoven with his youthful memories is the poignant story of his love affair with Colette, the tragedies that affected their marriage, and the illicit relationship that drove a wedge between them. The dual narratives of Mary and Hosea are similarly well-developed. Each could stand alone as a separate tale, but together they help provide insight into Dave’s scholarship and the trials he faces.
An engaging exploration of love and faith anchored by dynamic lead characters and briskly paced storylines.Pub Date: July 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4834-5415-3
Page Count: 380
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
