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SNIPER'S EYE

Name: SNIPER'S EYE
Author: Mainak Dhar

by Mainak Dhar ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A taut thriller that refreshingly departs from genre norms with its multilayered protagonist and South Asian setting.

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A former major in the Indian Army finds himself on a terrorist’s kill list in Dhar’s (03:02, 2016, etc.) thriller, the first in a planned series.

Facilities manager Aaditya “Aadi” Ghosh’s first date in Mumbai with co-worker Zoya Khan takes a shocking turn when the two see a man shot dead by a sniper. Aadi recognizes the shot as high-caliber and tracks its likely origin but only manages to take out the man that he believes was a lookout—the sniper gets away. This makes Aadi a hero in the press but also dredges up his past as a member of the Para, an Indian Army special-forces unit. The Paras have been under investigation for the deaths of children at a cross-border raid, and Aadi has been lying low for the last three years. It turns out that the murdered man was on a terrorist kill list, which someone brazenly posted online. Aadi’s name is a later inclusion, and he fears that this fact will put his loved ones—including Zoya, who wastes little time in confessing her love—in harm’s way. Aadi is soon face to face with his would-be killers, but a surprising double cross may force him to trust a very dangerous person. Dhar masterfully captures the political tensions between India and Pakistan; for example, some Indians want to blame the initial assassination on Pakistan despite the fact that Aadi heard the lookout speak Pashto, which would likely make him Afghani. The capable Aadi is a fairly traditional literary hero—a hardened former officer who’s numb to killing. But Dhar refines his protagonist by adding a sense of vulnerability: “my heart was beating much faster than usual as I swung the door open, painfully conscious of how conspicuous a target I’d be to anyone hiding inside.” Although there are a number of action sequences, the story is more invested in plot twists, such as the reason why Aadi wound up on the list.

A taut thriller that refreshingly departs from genre norms with its multilayered protagonist and South Asian setting.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: March 9, 2018

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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WHISTLING PAST THE GRAVEYARD

by Susan Crandall ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 2, 2013

Young Starla is an endearing character whose spirited observations propel this nicely crafted story.

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Crandall (Sleep No More, 2010, etc.) delivers big with a coming-of-age story set in Mississippi in 1963 and narrated by a precocious 9-year-old.

Due in part to tradition, intimidation and Jim Crow laws, segregation is very much ingrained into the Southern lifestyle in 1963. Few white children question these rules, least of all Starla Caudelle, a spunky young girl who lives with her stern, unbending grandmother in Cayuga Springs, Miss., and spends an inordinate amount of time on restriction for her impulsive actions and sassy mouth. Starla’s dad works on an oil rig in the Gulf; her mother abandoned the family to seek fame and fortune in Nashville when Starla was 3. In her youthful innocence, Starla’s convinced that her mother’s now a big singing star, and she dreams of living with her again one day, a day that seems to be coming more quickly than Starla’s anticipated. Convinced that her latest infraction is about to land her in reform school, Starla decides she has no recourse but to run away from home and head to Nashville to find her mom. Ill prepared for the long, hot walk and with little concept of time and distance, Starla becomes weak and dehydrated as she trudges along the hot, dusty road. She gladly accepts water and a ride from Eula, a black woman driving an old truck, and finds, to her surprise, that she’s not Eula’s only passenger. Inside a basket is a young white baby, an infant supposedly abandoned outside a church, whom Eula calls James. Although Eula doesn’t intend to drive all the way to Nashville, when she shows up at her home with the two white children, a confrontation with her husband forces her into becoming a part of Starla’s journey, and it’s this journey that creates strong bonds between the two: They help each other face fears as they each become stronger individuals. Starla learns firsthand about the abuse and scare tactics used to intimidate blacks and the skewed assumption of many whites that blacks are inferior beings. Assisted by a black schoolteacher who shows Eula and Starla unconditional acceptance and kindness, both ultimately learn that love and kinship transcend blood ties and skin color.

Young Starla is an endearing character whose spirited observations propel this nicely crafted story.

Pub Date: July 2, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4767-0772-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 20, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013

Categories:

HISTORICAL FICTION

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THE STAND

by Stephen King ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 3, 1978

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Striking a far less hysterical tone than in The Shining, King has written his most sweeping horror novel in The Stand, though it may lack the spinal jingles of Salem's Lot. In part this is because The Stand, with its flow of hundreds of brand-name products, is a kind of inventory of American culture. "Superflu" has hit the U.S. and the world, rapidly wiping out the whole of civilization—excepting the one-half of one percent who are immune. Superflu is a virus with a shifting antigen base; that is, it can kill every type of antibody the human organism can muster against it. Immunity seems to be a gift from God—or the Devil. The Devil himself has become embodied in a clairvoyant called Randall Flagg, a phantom-y fellow who walks highways and is known variously as "the dark man" or "the Walking Dude" and who has set up a new empire in Las Vegas where he rules by fear, his hair giving off sparks while he floats in the lotus position. He is very angry because the immune folks in the Free Zone up at Boulder have sent a small force against him; they get their message from Him (God) through a dying black crone named Abigail, who is also clairvoyant. There are only four in this Boulder crew, led by Stu Redman from East Texas, who is in love with pregnant Fran back in the Free Zone. Good and Evil come to an atomic clash at the climax, the Book of Revelations working itself out rather too explicitly. But more importantly, there are memorable scenes of the superflu spreading hideously, Fifth Avenue choked with dead cars, Flagg's minions putting up fresh lightbulbs all over Vegas. . . . Some King fans will be put off by the pretensions here; most will embrace them along with the earthier chilis.