The first in a proposed series, readers will welcome the time spent with the enigmatic Mona Baker.
In Batts’ thriller, a woman learns whom to trust (or not) after her husband is arrested for drug trafficking and she becomes a target for murder.
When cops find a kilo of cocaine in the Bakers’ house, they arrest Exxon-Mobil VP Aaron and pressure his wife, Mona, into giving them proof of a secret bank account where Aaron’s stashed his drug money. And the police have leverage: They’ve found Mona’s sister, Simone, who disappeared nearly a decade ago and was presumed dead, and will keep her out of prison (for killing her rapist uncle) if Mona helps. Mona, however, knows nothing about Aaron’s drug trafficking, let alone any hidden money. She soon realizes that she’s being followed, and when she survives more than one attempt on her life, it’s clear that someone sees Mona as a loose end. Batts’ (Walls Fall Down, 2003) novel is a fascinating tale of a woman rediscovering her lost identity: Mona’s mother was a strict disciplinarian and raised her girls in a crime-riddled neighborhood, but the adult Mona, who admits to marrying Aaron for his money, has embraced an indulgent lifestyle. She finds her strength again, thanks to Simone, a sublime character who has made her own way without a rich husband. Mona is deeply flawed: She claims that the cops are using her to secure a case against Aaron, but Mona is likewise using numerous people, namely her various lovers—men and women whom she’s strung along with no intention of forging any emotional connection. What makes Mona a resounding protagonist is her acknowledgement of her weaknesses and her love for her 7-year-old daughter, Sophie. The story reads like a mystery; it begins by almost immediately asking questions: Is there a foreign bank account? Was the cocaine Aaron’s or, as he maintains, part of a frame-up? But, though answers eventually surface, it’s a bit disappointing that Mona doesn’t act as amateur sleuth or initiate her own investigation. Notwithstanding, there’s definitely suspense—Mona’s distrust of police is derived from Aaron’s friendship with the mayor and the possibility of corrupt cops.
The first in a proposed series, readers will welcome the time spent with the enigmatic Mona Baker.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-0692226377
Page Count: 276
Publisher: The Real Ideal, LLC
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
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