A strange, bloody, creative take on the concept of werewolves.
From debut author Keeble comes a thrilling novel about a disease that turns people into werewolves.
Globes Disease turns victims into something “more primal than anything we were meant to be.” The afflicted turn into werewolves at certain times and are usually unable to control themselves once the transformation is complete. Affected characters range from the rebellious, physically slight Jodi Sakarui (who eliminates perverts in her werewolf form) to the normally gentle giant Quake Ragnorock; once changed, he becomes a shockingly powerful force. Monitoring it all is the blandly named Institute for the Research of Globes Disease, which restrains and studies werewolves within the institute, located in La Mort Douce (a former mining town “with an ominous history”). Run by the sinister Dr. von Shelly, the institute employs a team of “Hunters” who specialize in capturing and eliminating werewolves in the outside world. Led by the no-nonsense Chuck, the team members operate with camaraderie and precision, risking their own safety. As those with Globes form a pack of their own, and von Shelly’s ultimate plans become less opaque, the ensuing bloodshed comes as no surprise. Brimming with action and violence (an aggressor bites a victim’s “head like an apple, tearing half of his skull and skin away”), the novel never dawdles, although it can be underwritten. Following multiple characters (some of whom get offed in a hurry) and their accompanying back stories can be a chore. Much more successful is this new take on an old concept. After all, though it turns one into a ravaging monster, there are benefits to Globes Disease, such as “keen sight, acute hearing, and an incredible sense of smell; even when in human form.” Readers intrigued by such a perspective on the supernatural can expect a blood-and-guts adventure with scores of victims.
A strange, bloody, creative take on the concept of werewolves.Pub Date: April 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9961233-0-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
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
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