A sometimes-dense but informative novel set in Communist Bucharest.
In LaFlash’s debut novel, a college student searches for her missing boyfriend in Communist Romania.
In 1957 Bucharest, medical student Virginia Gemanar has been dating her boyfriend, Jenica Cureteanu, for a year. They’ve always talked about going to see a concert at the city’s Athenaeum, and when Jenica calls to tell Virginia he’s scored tickets, she’s filled with excitement. When she goes to meet him the next day at a statue by the concert hall, however, he doesn’t show. She spends the rest of the day hanging out at the apartment of her friends Mircea and Doina, hoping that Jenica will appear. It doesn’t make sense for Jenica to have vanished—he isn’t connected to any criminals or anyone the police might consider subversive—but Virginia is still afraid to go to the authorities; ever since Romania joined the Warsaw Pact a few years earlier, the country has been run as a police state. “Jenica’s unexpected disappearance kept [Virginia] awake and wondering….The question so tormented her that she started thinking the worst, even the possibility that he might have been abducted and killed and that she would never see him again.” The next morning, Virginia heads to Jenica’s dorm to discover that several books are missing, and under his bed, she finds a suitcase filled with moldy notebooks. Strangest of all, the only person who claims to have seen Jenica recently—an ex-roommate—is behaving strangely and sporting a mysterious bruise. With no one to rely on except a few trusted pals, Virginia is forced to play the role of detective, sifting through clues and rumors to figure out just where Jenica went and if it’s possible to bring him back.
LaFlash, who grew up in Romania, immigrated to the United States in 1997 after the fall of Communism, and although her prose comes off as slightly awkward at times, it consistently reveals her deep knowledge of life in Bucharest under the Securitate, with plenty of specific detail: “Virginia’s heart sank. Almost everyone in Bucharest knew that the Jilava Penitentiary was one of the country’s largest and most dreaded….The army later converted it into a site for preventative and posttrial imprisonment for males who had been accused and found guilty of political crimes.” Over the course of the novel, one will find plenty of similarly expositional moments, which give the work as a whole a slightly didactic quality, as if the entire purpose of the plot were merely to dramatize this particular period in Romanian history. As a result, many of the characters in this narrative feel thinly drawn, and they reflect less moral ambiguity than readers might be expecting to find in people living under such difficult circumstances. Even so, the story’s mystery elements keep the plot consistently moving forward, and the reader will be just as anxious as Virginia to discover the fate of her missing boyfriend as her search takes her into a dangerous subterranean world of dissidents and secret police.
A sometimes-dense but informative novel set in Communist Bucharest.Pub Date: March 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-578-25460-9
Page Count: 166
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.
A woman fears she made a fatal mistake by taking in a blood-soaked tween during a storm.
High winds and torrential rain are forecast for “The Middle of Nowhere, New Hampshire,” making Casey question the structural integrity of her ramshackle rental cabin. Still, she’s loath to seek shelter with her lecherous landlord or her paternalistic neighbor, so instead she just crosses her fingers, gathers some candles, and hopes for the best. Casey is cooking dinner when she notices a light in her shed. She grabs her gun and investigates, only to find a rail-thin girl hiding in the corner under a blanket. She’s clutching a knife with “Eleanor” written on the handle in black marker, and though her clothes are bloody, she appears uninjured. The weather is rapidly worsening, so before she can second-guess herself, former Boston-area teacher Casey invites the girl—whom she judges to be 12 or 13—inside to eat and get warm. A wary but starving Eleanor accepts in exchange for Casey promising not to call the police—a deal Casey comes to regret after the phones go down, the power goes out, and her hostile, sullen guest drops something that’s a big surprise. Meanwhile, in interspersed chapters labeled “Before,” middle-schooler Ella befriends fellow outcast Anton, who helps her endure life in Medford, Massachusetts, with her abusive, neglectful hoarder of a mother. As per her usual, McFadden lulls readers using a seemingly straightforward thriller setup before launching headlong into a series of progressively seismic (and increasingly bonkers) plot twists. The visceral first-person, present-tense narrative alternates perspectives, fostering tension and immediacy while establishing character and engendering empathy. Ella and Anton’s relationship particularly shines, its heartrending authenticity counterbalancing some of the story’s soapier turns.
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781464260919
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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