THE MERCHANT OF DEATH

Name: THE MERCHANT OF DEATH
Author: Lisa Henry
ISBN: 978-1-62649-222-6

by Lisa Henry ; J.A. Rock ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 2, 2015

Henry and Rock’s witty, gritty, occasionally graphic sequel to Two Gentlemen From Altona (2014) forces a buttoned-down G-man...

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A federal agent and a man on the lam re-enact Shakespeare when they try to expose a major con job.

When Henry Page flees Indianapolis FBI agent Ryan “Mac” McGuinness, it’s not the first time he’s run out on the agent—or on anyone else in his life. But he’s more regretful than usual, and not just because Mac was shot while protecting Henry at their hideout in Mac’s family’s cabin. Although they were on the verge of consummating an undeniable passion, Henry convinces himself it would have been one of the biggest mistakes of a life already full of wrong turns, bad decisions and hard luck. He’s a thief and Mac’s the law, and though Henry was a key witness in an upcoming trial, it’s back to his life of crime, mostly because his twin sister, Viola, needs him. It’s also time for him to return to being Sebastian Hanes, as his late, boozy, failed actress of a mother named him. Henry feels responsible for Viola and the accident that left her with the mind of a child. She even fears the people at the expensive care center that demands exorbitant monthly fees—and constant scams by Henry. The suspicious death of an elderly resident of the center goads Henry into stashing Viola in a more-or-less safe place and dressing up to take her place and expose what he’s sure is a big fraud. Then Mac, who’s in the doghouse for letting his witness get away, gets pulled into the sting. Although he’s never considered himself remotely straight, he finds that Henry/Sebastian’s role as Viola adds a whole new tantalizing layer of complexity—and bids him put his career and his life on the line to help the man he loves and save sweet, vulnerable Viola.

Henry and Rock’s witty, gritty, occasionally graphic sequel to Two Gentlemen From Altona (2014) forces a buttoned-down G-man to face 50 shades of ambiguity, not only of his endearing co-hero, but also of the odd couple’s future together.

Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-62649-222-6

Page Count: 205

Publisher: Riptide

Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014

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.

Pub Date: July 11, 1960

ISBN: 0060935464

Page Count: 323

Publisher: Lippincott

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...

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Sisters in and out of love.

Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.