by L. A. De Michiel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 19, 2016
A meticulously plotted tale, headlined by two praiseworthy protagonists.
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An Australian writer’s fictional account of a serial killer catches the attention of a genuine murderer in De Michiel’s (Orchestrated Fate, 2013, etc.) thriller.
Jake Petersen is taken aback when retired cop Cary Layter shows up at his door asking for the source for his latest serial-killer story in Crime of Fashion magazine. It turns out that Jake made up the tale, but Cary has found parallels to his own 14-year-old daughter’s abduction two decades ago—including her name, Josie. Someone took her from her home and likely kidnapped other girls as well. Jake assures Cary that his upcoming story installment, which will reveal where the bodies are buried, is pure fiction. However, a real-life killer has also noticed Jake’s article and given him a couple of warnings, including an axe in his door and a phone call saying he saw Jake at his restaurant gig. Jake and Cary come to believe that a body or two may really be buried at a public park. The killer, meanwhile, amps up his threats, creeping into Cary’s home and trailing Jake’s girlfriend, Savina Carabini. Worst of all, the rate of his murders has accelerated. De Michiel abandons the mystery by revealing the killer’s identity early on, but he still delivers a stark procedural that shows the painstaking detail of proving that someone’s a murderer. The novel’s nuanced plot developments make it stand out; for example, Cary gets an assist from DS Fayne Breitling, who later becomes his love interest, and Savina is revealed to be the daughter of an infamous Italian crime boss. There’s also subtle humor, as when Savina repeatedly calls the killer “the axe murderer,” based solely on the bladed tool he left in the door. Cary is a licensed PI, but De Michiel ensures that amateur gumshoe Jake has razor-sharp dialogue at the ready, as when he responds to a cop’s dig about “playing detectives”: “Somebody has to.” In the end, the story resolves with a bit of a twist.
A meticulously plotted tale, headlined by two praiseworthy protagonists.Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9872200-4-2
Page Count: 394
Publisher: Lindenfels Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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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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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