An unnerving ghost story that’s grounded by persuasive characters and stirring melodrama.
In Curtis’ (Mind Games, 2018, etc.) supernatural thriller, an au pair takes care of a tween who may be haunted by a dark spirit.
After Connecticut caregiver Maloney “Molly” Allworth is jobless for two weeks, she accepts a remote position at a home in Maine. She’ll be the au pair and tutor for 14-year-old Hailey Prescott and 12-year-old Liza Prescott. Molly has never worked as a live-in employee, but the job comes with an exceptional salary, as well as a $10,000 bonus if she can get the mute Liza to start talking again. Molly hopes that the money will allow her younger sister, Ali, to apply to medical school. But Molly’s employer (and Liza’s dad) Nathaniel Prescott seems certain that she won’t stay long. Previous au pairs had quickly quit, and Hailey insists that at least one of the women went “bonkers.” Hailey’s mom, Jennifer—the widow of Nathaniel’s brother—lives in the house, too, but she isn’t very welcoming. Still, Molly is determined to help Liza. The girl lost her mother two years ago and, before she stopped speaking, she’d claimed that she’d spoken to her mom’s ghost. Nathaniel doesn’t want to encourage discussion of spirits, but Molly suspects that there may really be something otherworldly in the home. She hears creepy noises at night and witnesses strange sights; meanwhile, unexplained accidents around the property suggest a menacing presence. Molly and Liza, along with a helpful but skeptical Nathaniel, delve into Prescott family history to find out whose specter might be posing a threat to everyone in the house. Curtis’ novel is first and foremost a drama, but it excels as a suspense tale. The author meticulously establishes the relationship between Molly and Liza, and shows why the caregiver relates so well to her charge; Molly lost her own mother to cancer seven years earlier, and someone murdered her father when she was around Liza’s age. It’s quickly evident that the selfless protagonist genuinely cares for the little girl. Liza is also sympathetic, for the most part, although her reason for remaining close-mouthed is oddly vague and unconvincing. Curtis wisely contrasts her with the rather abrasive Hailey and her sometimes-cold mother, who both become obstacles to Molly’s investigation. The author has previously written romance novels, but the romance in this book is shrewdly understated. Nathaniel ultimately warms up to Molly, but she gets just as much attention from Jennifer’s visiting lawyer brother, Matt Brahms. Later, Curtis shows her skill at horror with a few unsettling sequences; while investigating the darkened house at night, Molly feels “a tendril of frigid air” around her ankle and hears the sound of someone—or something—“shifting their weight from foot to foot.” Later scenes involve Molly trying to find a psychic who might be able to help her. This results in prolonged but riveting sequences as the protagonist sifts through charlatans who clearly wouldn’t be able to handle a genuine phantom.
An unnerving ghost story that’s grounded by persuasive characters and stirring melodrama.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-941097-55-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2019
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
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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