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TEMPLAR CODES

Name: TEMPLAR CODES
Author: Lee A. Sweetapple
ISBN: 978-0615924984

by Lee A. Sweetapple ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 18, 2014

A by-the-numbers thriller with a serviceable premise, though it’s hampered by awkward prose and a plodding narrative.

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A new thriller involving international politics and ancient artifacts.

Jim Stillwater is a former spook–turned-consultant who finds himself in Cyprus along with a handful of other American expats, most of whom are former government tough guys themselves. The novel opens with Jim and his buddies enjoying a guy’s-guy vacation away from wives and responsibilities—but it’s quickly shattered by the murder of a prominent archaeologist, which sets off a stream of events that leads to Jim being implicated in yet another murder. Gradually, the story lets readers in on events outside of Jim’s knowledge regarding the shadowy actors who might be behind the crimes, as well as their motivations: a series of ancient artifacts that could change the shape of political relations in the already contentious region. There’s nothing wrong with a little light, pulpy adventure, and this one is certainly easy to read and digest. Murder, political intrigue, femmes fatales, ancient conspiracy theories and textbook cloak-and-dagger shenanigans all crop up as the novel goes on, but very little of it adds up to anything of substance. At its best, the novel reads like a Clive Cussler clone (with a little Dan Brown thrown in), and there’s plenty of half-baked political intrigue and hard-boiled thriller action to go around. However, the prose is often clunky, with overly expository dialogue that can make the book more of a chore than a distraction: “ ‘Sir, is the gunman still there?’....‘I don’t think so. I have been passed out for several hours.’ ” Sweetapple (Key West Revenge, 2012, etc.) clearly loves the intelligence community and all of the spy-game fantasies that come along with it, and he seems to be going for the tone found in a James Bond novel or the Ocean’s Trilogy film series. However, in his eagerness to advance his story, he neglects to develop the characters, dialogue and atmosphere.

A by-the-numbers thriller with a serviceable premise, though it’s hampered by awkward prose and a plodding narrative.

Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2014

ISBN: 978-0615924984

Page Count: 308

Publisher: Eclectic Manor Publishing

Review Posted Online: April 1, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.