A gripping read with moral ambiguity galore.
Violence and debauchery in the Moroccan desert lead to cultural misunderstandings...and to more violence and debauchery.
On their way to a weekend of free-wheeling partying sponsored by a gay couple, Richard and Dally, David and Jo Henniger meet up with something both unforeseen and untoward. Late at night, two young Moroccans, putatively selling fossils to tourists, crowd in on the Hennigers’ car, and one of them, a young man named Driss, is run over. David checks to see whether Driss is in fact dead, and not knowing quite what to do, he and Jo put the body in the car and take him to the ksour of Richard and Dally’s, deep in the Moroccan desert. The situation is complicated by several factors, including David’s reputation as a drinker (and he had been consuming alcohol before the accident) and the suspicion of Hamid, a servant, that Westerners are utterly reckless and morally irresponsible. Although Richard feels there’s nothing to worry about—for if necessary, the opinion of the local authorities can be bought—Driss’ grieving father insists that David return the body and show at least some modicum of guilt and grief. While David is whisked away to Driss’ home, Jo remains at Richard and Dally’s. She’s disgusted with her husband (and actually has been for years) and feels liberated in his absence. David’s return in one piece is questionable. Osborne comes up with an ending that’s at the same time ironic, surprising and completely fitting.
A gripping read with moral ambiguity galore.Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-307-88903-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Hogarth
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
One-dimensional characters but standard Cussler and Co. multidimensional action.
Cussler and Morrison open The Oregon Files and relate another action-adventure featuring Juan Cabrillo and his merry men.
Oregon looks like tramp steamer, but the rust disguises a sophisticated terrorist-fighting ship. Ever poised to save the world, Cabrillo and crew are in Venezuela to intercept weapons marked for North Korea by a rogue admiral, Dayana Ruiz, "ready to sacrifice anyone or anything." They’ll meet Ruiz again, but not before Cabrillo and crew escape attempted assassination in Jamaica, rescue the freighter Cuidad Bolívar from drone minisubs (the title piranhas) in the Caribbean, dodge C4 bombs in New York City, and survive a car-chase crashfest and shootout in Berlin. Cabrillo jets to Berlin to uncover an obscure physics paper written by a scientist killed in the 1902 eruption of Martinique’s Mount Pelée. The Einstein-plus smart, double-Ph.D. villain, Lawrence Kensit, "a mousy fellow with a stooped gait and an acne-scarred face," is always two steps ahead, having constructed a see-anything-anywhere device, Sentinel, a "neutrino telescope." The subatomic science is superficial, but Sentinel’s secreted in an impregnable Haitian cave filled with "selenium infused with copper impurities." With Haitian Hector Bazin, once an abused restavec (child servant) and former French Foreign Legionnaire, as his enforcer, Kensit plans to install a corrupt politician in the American vice presidency as his first step in taking over the U.S. and then the world. From QF-16 drones directed to knock the vice president’s 747 into the Caribbean to the Exocet and 3M-54 Klub missile shootout between Ruiz and Cabrillo, the action is supercharged, exciting enough to dress up the sci-fi plot and drown out the clank of dialogue like "you’ll discover my retribution is swift and mighty."
One-dimensional characters but standard Cussler and Co. multidimensional action.Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-399-16732-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
Though Christie fans may be particularly delighted, this propulsive, pitch-perfect thriller has something for everyone.
A group of friends at a British college, all connected to the same charismatic scholar of Agatha Christie’s work, are torn apart by secrets and deceptions.
When Jess Walker begins to contemplate going to college, there is only one clear choice: She has to attend the university where Dr. Lorna Clay teaches. Lorna is the author of The Truants, a brilliant work arguing that great artists must destroy their personal lives to create, which has captured Jess’ imagination ever since she was given the book by her uncle. Once Jess starts college in East Anglia, she strikes up a friendship with Georgie, a wealthy socialite with a proclivity to dipping into her mother’s pill drawer; Alec, a 20-something white South African journalist on fellowship at the university; and Nick, a geology student who quickly falls for Jess. A middle child from a farming village, Jess instantly feels her life become more vibrant in the company of her exotic companions. And at the head of it all is the brilliant Lorna, who permeates the boundaries of their lives as students to attend their parties and become their confidante and, eventually, their friend, especially to Jess, who wants to follow in Lorna’s footsteps professionally and personally. But as the relationships among the five become more and more tangled, a tragedy suddenly shatters their lives, forcing Jess to confront the illusory nature of really knowing another. Aside from some slight plausibility issues (if only teenagers’ lives were changed by works of literary scholarship!), Weinberg has written one of the best thriller debuts in recent years, with all the cleverness of Ruth Ware (and, yes, even Christie herself) and a dash of Donna Tartt’s edgy darkness.
Though Christie fans may be particularly delighted, this propulsive, pitch-perfect thriller has something for everyone.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-54196-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
