A delightful detective who more than earns and deserves her own series.
In Regan’s (Hold Still, 2014, etc.) thriller, Philadelphia private investigator Jocelyn Rush takes the reins of a cold case from a terminal ex–homicide detective who needs help finding the killer before he dies.
The unsolved murder of teenager Sydney Adams has left former detective Augustus Knox’s life in ruins. Fourteen years later, his wife and job are gone, his daughter hates him, and his alcoholism has ravaged so much of his body that he has mere months to live. He seeks help from Jocelyn, a retired cop now with her own investigation firm. Knox is sure the murderer’s Cash Rigo, Sydney’s married high school coach, who’d likely had an affair with the girl, a dalliance seemingly confirmed by recently discovered photos. Sydney’s murder looks like a random shooting to Jocelyn, but Rigo definitely doesn’t appear innocent, especially with his rickety alibi. Jocelyn teams up with homicide cop Trent Razmus and brings the case in from the cold with news reports declaring new evidence (though it’s not necessarily true) and a fundraiser in Sydney’s honor. Jocelyn eventually links Rigo to a suspicious death and sees signs that he’s abusing his pregnant wife, Francine. But she may underestimate certain people’s desires to keep the truth hidden, which could put Jocelyn’s own life in danger. The protagonist is just as unyielding as she was in Regan’s previous novel: she’s not one to readily offer forgiveness, but her resolve is commendable. There’s little mystery to the story, as Jocelyn has few suspects and spends more time trying to extract a confession from Rigo than investigating the case. But Jocelyn’s life brims with hurdles. The tortured Knox, for one, is perpetually drunk, while Jocelyn fears that sister Camille, a former addict, may want to take away her 4-year-old daughter, Olivia, whom Jocelyn’s raised as her own. Jocelyn’s as tough as they come, but couple that with her motherly instincts, and it’s categorically endearing: “Why can’t I make cupcakes that look like Minions or a goddamn Disney Princess?” the typically foulmouthed private eye grumbles. Even if readers are a step or two ahead of Jocelyn in the investigation, her charisma is unmitigated and unending.
A delightful detective who more than earns and deserves her own series.Pub Date: Dec. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9967159-2-8
Page Count: 310
Publisher: Prodorutti Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
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.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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