All right, all right: The mystery, as usual in this waggish series (The Mile High Club, 2000, etc.), is no more substantial...
Now that his Vandam Street Irregulars are all out of town—Stephanie DuPont’s in Nassau, Ratso Sloman in Montauk, Steve Rambam in Israel, Mike McGovern in Hawaii collecting recipes for his new cookbook Eat, Drink, and Be Kinky—is it finally time for Kinky Friedman to get a life of his own? Of course not. A pair of phone calls—the first from beekeeper-turned-newspaperman Willis Hoover reporting McGovern’s sudden disappearance from a Waikiki beach, the second including McGovern’s trademark distress signal—“MIT!—MIT!—MIT!”—announces that McGovern’s indeed a Man in Trouble, and that Kinky and the returning Stephanie have to get megamillionaire John McCall to fly them and Stephanie’s pain-in-the-neck dogs to the islands. The good news is that McGovern’s mayday strongly suggests that he’s not dead; certainly he’s not the corpse the Hawaiian authorities identify as his. Nor is a mental inmate in the institution Kinky and his diminished forces visit, or the kidnap victim a pair of low-level thugs try to ransom. But if McGovern’s in no danger, what’s his connection to the vanishing years ago of a pair of priceless Island relics, and the current vanishing of investigative reporter Carline Ravel?
All right, all right: The mystery, as usual in this waggish series (The Mile High Club, 2000, etc.), is no more substantial than peach fuzz. This time, though, Kinky’s patter is disappointingly thin too. As he’d be the first to admit, he needs his posse, or at least his cat, rather than a row of Penis Coladas to bounce off his peerless non-sequiturs.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-684-86487-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001
Though all the surface elements are in place, Picoult falters in her exploration of what turns a quiet kid into a murderer.
Picoult’s 14th novel (after The Tenth Circle, 2006, etc.) of a school shooting begins with high-voltage excitement, then slows by the middle, never regaining its initial pace or appeal.
Peter Houghton, 17, has been the victim of bullying since his first day of kindergarten, made all the more difficult by two factors: In small-town Sterling, N.H., Peter is in high school with the kids who’ve tormented him all his life; and his all-American older brother eggs the bullies on. Peter retreats into a world of video games and computer programming, but he’s never able to attain the safety of invisibility. And then one day he walks into Sterling High with a knapsack full of guns, kills ten students and wounds many others. Peter is caught and thrown in jail, but with over a thousand witnesses and video tape of the day, it will be hard work for the defense to clear him. His attorney, Jordan McAfee, hits on the only approach that might save the unlikable kid—a variation of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by bullying. Thrown into the story is Judge Alex Cormier, and her daughter Josie, who used to be best friends with Peter until the popular crowd forced the limits of her loyalty. Also found dead was her boyfriend Matt, but Josie claims she can’t remember anything from that day. Picoult mixes McAfee’s attempt to build a defense with the mending relationship of Alex and Josie, but what proves a more intriguing premise is the response of Peter’s parents to the tragedy. How do you keep loving your son when he becomes a mass murderer? Unfortunately, this question, and others, remain, as the novel relies on repetition (the countless flashbacks of Peter’s victimization) rather than fresh insight. Peter fits the profile, but is never fully fleshed out beyond stereotype. Usually so adept at shaping the big stories with nuance, Picoult here takes a tragically familiar event, pads it with plot, but leaves out the subtleties of character.
Though all the surface elements are in place, Picoult falters in her exploration of what turns a quiet kid into a murderer.Pub Date: March 6, 2007
ISBN: 0-7434-9672-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2007
SEEN & HEARD
IN THE NEWS
IN THE NEWS
A fable about the consolatory and strengthening powers of religion flounders about somewhere inside this unconventional coming-of-age tale, which was shortlisted for Canada’s Governor General’s Award. The story is told in retrospect by Piscine Molitor Patel (named for a swimming pool, thereafter fortuitously nicknamed “Pi”), years after he was shipwrecked when his parents, who owned a zoo in India, were attempting to emigrate, with their menagerie, to Canada. During 227 days at sea spent in a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger (mostly with the latter, which had efficiently slaughtered its fellow beasts), Pi found serenity and courage in his faith: a frequently reiterated amalgam of Muslim, Hindu, and Christian beliefs. The story of his later life, education, and mission rounds out, but does not improve upon, the alternately suspenseful and whimsical account of Pi’s ordeal at sea—which offers the best reason for reading this otherwise preachy and somewhat redundant story of his Life.
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-15-100811-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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